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SEPTEMBER 2016

Business in Africa Continent of opportunity

A City with Flair $4.95

Paris has panache

Kicked into High Gear

Entrepreneurs are on a roll with crowdfunding

lifestyle

Slo-mo in Tahiti Hail the Revolution Spa Treatments to Beat Jet Lag

IN OUR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CLASS, A SEAT IS A BED AND BUSINESS IS PLEASURE. Designed to provide you with your own personal space, our Executive Pods are the perfect choice for your business travel. Ideal for a good night’s sleep, each International Business Class seat reclines into a fully flat bed at the touch of a button. Plus, each pod on our Boeing 787 Dreamliners comes with a massaging headrest, an 18" entertainment screen, and direct access to the aisle with a clear view of the window.* Whether you use your pod for work, relaxation or both, you’ll arrive at your destination completely refreshed and ready to go.

Explore stories of business travel and more at JourneysToSuccess.com

*Pictures show Air Canada Boeing 787 Dreamliner product. Other configurations available

n Inside September 2016

On The Cover 30 Kicked Into High Gear Entrepreneurs are on a roll with crowdfunding

Special Reports 12 Pieces of the African Pie Business opportunities abound across this fast-changing continent

Destination 26 Boom Town Gurgaon, India’s Millennium City, has seen a meteoric rise

22 A City with Flair From historic hotels to chic shopping, Paris has panache

30

Departments 08 Upfront One on One with Le Méridien’s Global Master Barista Franz Xaver Zanuer. US business travel forecast downgraded. Uncertainty surrounds Brexit vote. Hyatt Regency opens in Xi’an. Singapore Air debuts premium economy in New York.

18 Take offs & Landings The Future of First Class. Plus new LGA terminal breaks ground

16 Loyalty Update Airline and hotel rewards programs news and promotions

34 Tried & Tested Le Méridien Versailles, Montreal United Airlines 787-8 BusinessFirst San Francisco – Xi’an

12

Intermedia Travel Group

Eleven Ryerson Avenue, Suite 201, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444 P: (973) 839-6200 F: (973) 839-4390 www.businesstravelerusa.com

lifestyle

Group Publisher Jerry Allison – (973) 839-6200 JAllison@businesstravelerusa.com Principal/Chief Content Officer Ross Atkinson – (703) 395-7145 RAtkinson@businesstravelerusa.com Subscriptions – (973) 839-0620 subscriptions@businesstravelerusa.com Advertising Sales – (973) 839-6200 advertising@businesstravelerusa.com Jim McGinley – (818) 712-0672 Mike Shevlin – (847) 749-0168 Editorial Director Dan Booth – (336) 766-1961 editorial@businesstravelerusa.com Editorial Assistant – Ralf Walters Contributors Marisa Cannon Kathryn Creedy Lark Gould Clement Huang Jane Labous Akanksha Maker Catharine Nicol Ramsey Qubein Sarah Reid Jenny Southan David Weiner Designer & Art Director Michele Cameron ML.Cameron @comcast.net Production Marylee DeFerrari mdeferrari@businesstravelerusa.com Business Traveler® North America is published ten times a year at our address as above. The magazine is independent of commercial interest. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be accepted for publication. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publishers who cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions.

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part of the text, photographs or illustrations without permission is prohibited.

50 38 Lifestyle News WiFi is more important than breakfast. AC Hotels partners with Startup Grind. Residence Inn, Under Armour team up for runners.

40 Well Being

56 4 Hours In Singapore pgrad to

58 World Wise Staying Different– Today’s travelers expect more, so hotels are ramping up for tomorrow

Relax & Reboot – Seven spa treatments that beat jet lag

44 Technology of Things Hail the Revolution – On-demand taxi apps are changing travel

50 Escape To Slow Mo in Tahiti – Idyllic South Pacific isles exceed expectations

54 The Scene We round up some top events in the upcoming months.

44

n Talking Point

Behind the Headlines “Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy. Remember that”

B

– Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle

ack in 1992, Queen Elizabeth described the 12 months preceding as the Royal Family’s “annus horribulus” – horrible year – and indeed it must have seemed that way, what with scandals, divorce, and just before Christmas, her house (well, one of them) nearly burning down. But Her Majesty, true to form, soldiered on, patched things up with her subjects and has since celebrated a Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics returning to her capital city and the birth of two great-grandchildren.

While not exactly a horrible year for the airline industry, it has been a whatever-the-Latin-word-is-for-a-couple-of-months horribilus. To say things have been bumpy is something of an understatement. Passengers have endured headline-making computer glitches and weeks of stormy weather that have created confusion and delay, and on at least one flight, several injuries.

None of this is good news for fliers, particularly business travelers. Weather delays, ATC holds, mechanicals are just part and parcel of the vagaries of air travel, but most of us this summer are thinking, enough is enough. Of course it’s not especially good news for airlines either.

As I write this, I find myself once again among the 100 millionplus souls who will traverse the world’s busiest airport this year, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International. Passing through the concourse on the way to my flight (which, by the way, is delayed), I catch one newspaper headline that reads,“Airlines Plagued

by Aging Infrastructure.”The TV in a bar is tuned to a financial news channel; the crawl at the bottom of the screen trumpets the question,“Are Airlines Too Big?” Aviation as a commercial enterprise is just over a century old.

In that relatively short span, the industry has grown from a single flight with a single passenger to millions of operations each year carrying the equivalent of half the world’s population. At the same time the business has gone from being considered risky to almost entirely routine.

In fact, one could argue that the recent failures of technology and weather have caused such a stir precisely because they’re in such contrast to the routine of flying. It’s become so ordinary we forget

the complexity of the systems that support it.

Every day, hundreds of airlines send thousands of machines, each with millions of parts, hurtling though Earth’s constantly changing atmosphere at nearly the speed of sound. What could possibly go wrong? And yet day after day, thousands of times a day, the industry delivers on its promise to make air travel safe, mostly reliable and, yes, even relatively pain-free.

They’ve called my flight, so it’s time for me to pack up the laptop and get ready for the last – and best – leg of my journey, the trip home. As the pre-boarding passengers queue up, I notice a mom with her two little girls, maybe 8 and 6 years old, decked out in pink and dragging matching pink sequined roll aboard bags. When time comes to head down the jetway, the girls march up to the gate agent and confidently plop their boarding passes on the scanner.

Clearly these two are seasoned travel pros.

Watching them made me think; this is the future of aviation.

Whatever the complexities and vagaries, as long as there are little girls with pink sequined roll aboard bags who are ready for the experiences that only travel offers, there will be big silver birds ready to take them there.

And that’s good news for all of us. BT

— Dan Booth Editorial Director

Keep In Touch Stay Informed: sign up for the Business Traveler weekly newsletter at www.businesstravelerusa.com

6 n September 2016

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n Upfront

on ONE N E

Liberating Libations Le Méridien’s Global Master Barista Franz Xaver Zanuer shares the art, science and inspiration of liquid pleasures

BT: You have one of the most fascinating roles of any I’ve seen, traveling to Le Méridien properties to develop their unique menu of libations. You invent new drinks often using local ingredients at each property.

Where does one start?

FRANZ: That’s the best part of my job! Once I arrive at any of the 100 plus Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts around the world, I set out to “unlock” and discover the destination. I explore the city, talk to locals, visit street food markets and check out local shops to find inspiration. Once I understand the history, local preferences and markets, I jump behind the hotel bar and try to replicate my experience and the taste that I got from the city in a unique cocktail recipe.

BT: What was the most unexpected combination where the result surprised even you?

FRANZ: Before I started this role, I was working in London at Le Méridien Piccadilly and the Global Le Méridien brand team asked if I would be featured in a promotional film. Essentially I was tasked to create a London-inspired coffee cocktail that included gin, given its strong connection to England. It was unexpected and challenging to combine gin and coffee in one recipe. Both are very delicate in a cocktail, so I had to be very mindful to create the perfect balance and respect the characteristic of both.

8 n September 2016

BT: In your travels, what were some of your most aweinspiring moments?

FRANZ: Tough question, but I’ll go with the time I visited Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu. We were fascinated by the warm

welcome of the Malaysian people. The concierge organized a unique tour for us that included a ride on the longest zipline in Malaysia from island to island, local authentic lunch and a mind blowing seafood dinner right next to the ocean.

BT: You’re also Le Méridien’s Global Master Barista. Coffee can be an even more personal experience than cocktails. How do you appeal across such a wide range of tastes?

FRANZ: For me, espresso is the original Facebook. Coffee is all about socializing, getting together with friends, family and colleagues. Coffee is part of our day to day routine and every one of us knows exactly how we would like to enjoy our daily cup. Increased awareness about the art of growing and preparing coffee

has made the product easily comparable with wine.

BT: It’s clear you’re passionate about experimenting with new ideas while still pleasing your guests. Where do you find the balance?

FRANZ: I have worked with Le Méridien since 2009 when I started my career at our Vienna hotel.

There’s no greater pleasure for me than tasting something new. Even when I am not working, I just love to discover new trends, products, bars or restaurants, and exchange ideas or simply just jump behind my home bar and try out something completely different.

BT: Where do you find the inspiration?

FRANZ: My family owns a restaurant back home in Austria and whilst I was growing up, I supported the business along with my dad from an early age.

In the beginning, I was usually working behind the bar and the best selling drink on a hot Sunday is a pint of beer. In Austria it’s an art to draft a beer.

No matter if the restaurant was packed, there was no chance my dad would ever serve a less than perfect beer. I was lucky enough to learn from my dad, witnessing his passion for every single detail. Ever since then, I always knew that this was exactly the industry I wanted to work in and today I am still as passionate as ever.

POLL

Has summer travel been worse than previous years?

Yes

31% No

50%

About the same

19%

For more survey ratings visit businesstravelerusa.com/polls

Hyatt Regency Opens in Xi’an

Hyatt Hotels has announced the opening of the Hyatt Regency Xi’an in the capital of Shaanxi province in northwest China. The hotel features 298 guestrooms and suites.

The on-site food and beverage options include the Lounge, the Market Café and authentic Chinese fare at Hu Pan. The hotel offers a spa and fitness facilities with heated indoor pool. For meetings the property has more than 43,000 square feet of event space including a 13,100-square foot Regency Ballroom.

For details visit hyatt.com.

Visit businesstravelerusa.com

Upfront n

Singapore Air Debuts Premium Economy in the Big Apple

PROPERTY PIPELINE AND OPENINGS

Singapore Airlines has launched its new Premium Economy Class on flights from New York’s JFK to Frankfurt and Singapore.

The new cabin aboard the A380 offers 36 seats, each with a seat width of 19.5 inches with a pitch of 38 inches, plus other features for fares only 40 to 50 percent higher than Economy Class.

Beginning Oct. 23, Singapore Airline’s Premium Economy will be available on two daily flights from SFO with the addition of the A350-900 nonstop service to Singapore, and on two daily flights from LAX, one a Los Angeles-Tokyo-Singapore service and the other, the Los Angeles-Seoul-Singapore route operated with 777-300ER aircraft.

n Waldorf Comes to San Francisco – Hilton Worldwide has announced its newest property, the Waldorf Astoria San Francisco, part of a two million square-foot, mixedused complex in the city’s Transbay Neighborhood on Mission Street.

For more information visit waldorfastoria.com.

GBTA Downgrades US Business Travel Forecast

Uncertainty Surrounds UK Vote to Leave the EU

In a referendum held June 23, Britain has voted to leave the European Union. The results surprised many analysts and the business world, and considerable uncertainty remains as the details of Britain’s exit are worked out. Observers say it could be two years or more before these issues are fully resolved.

The immediate impact is likely to be a slowdown in the British economy, according to many analysts. PwC revised its GDP growth projection for the UK in 2016 to 1.6 percent, down from 1.9 percent, with an even steeper drop in 2017. Growth would then gradually pick up later in 2017 and beyond.

The biggest source of uncertainty, PwC says, is the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU, mainly because of the lack of precedent. For example, it is unclear whether the UK will be able to continue to access to the Single Market as it currently does now, or have to negotiate a free trade agreement, or even have to trade with EU member states under WTO terms.

For the travel industry, while is it impossible to quantify the exact extent of the Brexit, most of the impact is likely to be on travel confidence, especially business travel. In aviation, preliminary estimates from IATA suggest that the number of UK air passengers could be 3 to 5 percent lower by 2020. Another major unknown is aviation regulation. The UK faces a trade-off between accessing the European Single Aviation Market and having the policy freedom to set its own regulations.

Visit businesstravelerusa.com

US business travel spending is expected to slow this year, growing only 0.9 percent to a total of $292.5 billion, according to the latest GBTA BTI Outlook – United States 2016 Q2 report from the GBTA Foundation. The decline represents a slight downgrade from the previous quarter’s forecast.

Factors leading to the weaker outlook over the next six months include increasing risks in the domestic and global economies, uncertainty leading up to the US presidential election and the surprising vote in the UK to leave the EU. However, the forecast going into 2017 is for business travel to grow 4.2 percent rising to $304.9 billion.

Globally the GBTA BTI Outlook – Annual Global Report & Forecast, sponsored

by Visa, Inc., found that, despite continued uncertainty, business travel spend topped $1.2 trillion in 2015, an increase of 5 percent over 2014. By the end of the current year, global business travel spend is predicted to climb to $1.3 trillion and post a rise 5.8 percent on average over the next five years, reaching $1.6 trillion in 2020.

n Conrad Washington DC Breaks Ground – Conrad Hotels & Resorts has begun construction of the Conrad Washington, DC, a 360-room luxury hotel at CityCenterDC. The hotel is expected to open in the first quarter of 2019.

For more information visit conradhotels.hilton.com. n Kimpton Hotels Heads to Tampa – Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants has announced plans for its seventh property in Florida.

The Tampa hotel will feature 150 rooms and suites in a five-story building.

Visit kimptonhotels.com. n Four Seasons’ Second Tokyo Property Plans 2020 Open – Four Seasons has announced plans to open a second property in Tokyo in spring 2020. The 190room hotel will be the luxury brand’s third in Japan.

Visit fourseasons.com. n Aloft Comes to Downtown Houston – Starwood Hotel & Resorts will begin taking reservations Oct. 4 for its new Aloft Houston Downtown opening is Sept. 20. It’s second Aloft property in the metro area. The SPG Category 4 boutique hotel has 173 rooms, with on-site parking and convenient location to METRORail. The hotel is near downtown Houston’s best shopping, dining and entertainment.

For more information visit starwoodhotels.com September 2016 n 9

n Upfront

Oakwood Worldwide Expands Branded Presence in Asia Corporate housing and serviced apartment solutions provider Oakwood Worldwide has announced plans to establish an Oakwood-branded presence in several new countries, in addition to launching a new product, Oakwood Studios.

Oakwood Asia Pacific will grow its portfolio by more than 40 percent through 2017. The growth includes the just opened Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Brisbane, the company’s first branded property in Australia, and expansion of branded properties into Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.

In addition, Oakwood Asia Pacific will launch Oakwood Studios in November with the opening of Oakwood Studios Singapore, the first Oakwood-branded property in Singapore.

For details visit oakwoodworldwide.com.

POLL

Given the option,what’s your preference for local transport in a city?

Taxi

37%

Black car service

28%

Car share (Uber, Lyft, etc)

26%

For more survey ratings visit businesstravelerusa.com/polls

Melia ME Opens First US Hotel ME by Meliá brand has opened its first US destination in downtown Miami. The hotel features 129 rooms and more than 1,000 square feet of meeting space.

Amenities include a 14th floor sun deck with sunset and sunrise pools and a poolside bar and lounge. The property also offers a fresh interpretation of the renowned STK restaurant.

For more information visit melia.com.

Avis Introduces Avis Now App

Avis has rolled out its new Avis Now mobile app. The app enables travelers enrolled in Avis Preferred to view which cars are available in real-time, and exchange or upgrade a vehicle before arriving at the lot, or when on the lot. In addition, they can confirm, cancel or extend a rental in the app, lock and unlock doors, or flash the headlights to help find their car.

Avis Preferred members can use Avis Now at more than 50 locations across the United States and will be available in select international markets in the coming months.

The app is available on the iOS and Android platforms. Visit avis.com for more information.

10 n September 2016

Enterprise Holdings has announced further expansion of its global footprint with the addition of New Zealand and Jamaica to its network. Enterprise Rent-A-Car has entered the New Zealand market with its first location at the Queenstown Airport franchised to Redspot Car Rentals. Redspot is a family-owned car rental business that has served the Australian car rental market for more than 20 years.

In the Caribbean, Jamaica’s leading automotive company, ATL Automotive – an affiliate of the family-operated Sandals Resorts International (SRI) Group – will serve as the franchisee for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands in Jamaica.

Enterprise Holdings’ long-term expansion strategy is focused on building a global network that today, operates in more than 80 countries and territories worldwide.

Visit enterpriseholdings.com for more details.

US Carriers Win Approval For Havana Flights

Bicycle share

9%

Enterprise Continues Global Expansion

Eight US carriers have won tentative government approval to begin round-trip service between the US and Havana, marking the first such direct service in more than 50 years from the US to the Cuban capital. The airlines are Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United, according to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

The airlines will serve Havana from 10 American cities including four in Florida – Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa – plus Atlanta; Charlotte, Houston; Los Angeles; Newark and New York City. The government’s decision is set to be finalized later this summer to allow a 30-day public comment period, the DOT announcement said. The airlines would then be required to begin service within 90 days of the issue date of a final order.

The travel embargo to Cuba is currently still in force, but the Obama administration has eased the rules as part of an effort to normalize relations with the island nation. Travelers to Cuba must be authorized under the US government’s Cuban Assets Control Regulations and certify that they fall under one of 12 approved categories, including family visits, official business of the US government, journalism, educational and religious activities. Travelers to Cuba should also contact the Cuban Embassy in Washington to determine the appropriate type of visa required by Cuba for their purpose of travel.

Airlines still need to keep records for five years of the official reasons why individuals travel to Cuba. BT

Visit businesstravelerusa.com

n Special Report

Pieces of the African pie

Right and below: Prestige cars at Accra Mall; and the allure of Western brands

From Accra to Nairobi, business opportunities abound all across this flourishing continent

By Jane Labous and Clement Huang

W

CORBIS/ISTOCK

andering around Accra Mall in Ghana’s capital, it’s hard to believe that this city was ever considered part of the“developing world.”Fashionable couples promenade through Mango, Puma, Levi’s and Apple stores; women emerge from glamorous boutiques; a huge supermarket sells everything from ice cream to barbecues; a five-screen cinema shows all the latest Hollywood releases; and there’s parking for 900 cars – many of them flashy SUVs. All this without mentioning the food court offering fried chicken, smoothies and a bouncy castle for the kids.

Drive there via the spiraling highways of the city, meanwhile, and you see glossy ads for iPhones, beauty products, flights, mortgages and the luxury condos that have recently appeared in the region.

It’s the same in many major African cities. Nairobi, Lagos, Cairo and Dakar are all experiencing a shopping boom. It’s the new fashionable pastime, along with fitness (gyms are having a moment, too).

In Dakar, the Sea Plaza mall houses 44 shops including Benetton and Aldo, ten restaurants, a cinema and a spa run by the Radisson hotel group on a site that, back in the 1990s, was a rugged bit of cliff overhanging the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean without even a paved road running past it.

In Lagos, the Ikeja mall opened in 2012, while the Palms center is home to brands including Hugo Boss, Mango, Mac, Wrangler, Swatch and Sony, plus a cinema, food court and 1,000 parking spaces. In Lusaka, Zambia, several complexes offer supermarkets, clothing, electronics and everything in between, led by South African retailer Shoprite and Woolworths.

There is more growth to come. In two years, it’s anticipated that there will be 179 new malls in Africa.“The number of new malls is impressive, driven by retailers’ growing interest in looking for new growth opportunities,”says Julien Garcier, managing director of Sagaci Research, which in 2013 predicted strong retail growth across the continent by 2017. “We are today at a major turning point across the continent.”

New Generation A burgeoning African middle class with disposable income and a high awareness of global brands via films, TV and music is driving 12 n September 2016

the demand for consumer goods. Africa has the world’s youngest population, with more than half under 20.

The consumption habits of these young people are quite different from their elders – they are more likely to search for information online, seeking products and stores that reflect the right image; they are more brand-conscious, looking for the latest fashions and trends; and they like to try new things. Combined with urbanization and the increased availability of credit, it seems like a winning formula.

In the cities, more and more people are flocking to malls rather than the smaller, informal shops and markets that have been the traditional choice. They are seen as places to eat, drink and socialize.

According to McKinsey, Africa’s consumer-facing industries are predicted to grow by more than $400 billion by 2020, accounting for Visit businesstravelerusa.com

Special Report n

but on non-essentials such as entertainment and aspirational goods. Ultimately, we’re sitting in the second-fastest growing region in the world, after Asia, and that’s underlying this.”

Grant Hatch, former South Africa strategy lead at Accenture, says that nine countries will account for almost 75 percent of total consumer spending in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020: Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda in the east; Angola, Zambia and South Africa in the south; and Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria in the west.

“Within these attractive markets are a wide range of consumers for whom companies must tailor appealing, differentiated offers,” Hatch says. He suggests developing a deep understanding of competitors and building partnerships with local producers.

“Company managers must be prepared to walk the markets and gain insights from talking to street vendors, watching consumers and building a qualitative model of how the market operates.”

more than half of the total revenue increase that all businesses are expected to generate by the end of the decade.

Research by Euromoney shows that, since 2000, consumer spending in sub-Saharan Africa has grown at a steady 4 percent per year, reaching almost $600 billion in 2010. The market is expected to be worth $1 trillion by 2020.

These are impressive figures, representing glittering opportunities for brands and property investors. Many consider the continent to be something of a new frontier in retail terms, with its huge, untapped pool of potential consumers.

“The key factor here is that 45 million households across the continent are entering the ‘discretionary income’ sector,”according to Karl-Hendrik Magnus, a McKinsey analyst based in South Africa who worked on a report called The Rise of the African Consumer.

“They have enough to spend, not just on bread and other basics, Visit businesstravelerusa.com

Think Local Still, many brands have little idea how to translate the opportunities into action and profit. International investors have to compete with traditional ‘umbrella’ market stalls often offering cheap or counterfeit goods. A lack of information about the African consumer is leaving companies at a disadvantage, and it is those with years of experience here that do well.

Then there is corruption and bureaucracy to overcome, while logistics can be unreliable and infrastructure lags behind much of the developed world. Plus, the very diversity of Africa – 54 countries with differing cultures, languages, demographics and currencies – makes local knowledge implicit to success.

It is notable that the brands that are successful are those creating market-specific products catering to the needs of the consumer in different countries. Africa is enormous, and the taste of shoppers in Senegal differs widely from those in Kenya or Zambia. David Gyori, executive director of Banking Reports, which provides banks with research and analysis of economic markets in Africa, says it is the brands that understand these specifics that do best.

“The African consumer is changing at high speed, so a dynamic understanding of their journey is what makes a Western brand especially successful,”he says.“Part of this understanding is the right price point, one that takes buying power into account and that brings the joy of owning a certain brand to the customer at an affordable price.”

Despite controversies, Nestlé has been present in Africa for decades, specializing in food products such as instant coffee and powdered milk. Yet a recent announcement that it will scale back its operations has been attributed to a misunderstanding over the past few years of the continent’s changing consumer base. It is seen to have chased the middle class while neglecting the low-income consumer that was always its major customer base.

In contrast, Unilever has adjusted its strategy to take into account local needs, resulting in double-digit growth on the continent over the past decade. It has created affordable food, water-thrifty laundry detergents and grooming products to fit local tastes, such as a line of black hair products in South Africa, which previously relied on expensive US imports. It has also wisely packaged their products in smaller sizes and at low prices to capture the loyalty of lower income customers.

Gap entered the South African market in 2012, while Walmart purchased a majority share in local retailer Massmart some years September 2016 n 13

n Special Report Left to right: Cairo’s Nasr City Casablanca’s Morocco mall

ago and has seen huge expansion on the continent using the same strategies as Unilever to launch products such as cheap, effective sun screen in South Africa.

Other brands exploring the market include Zara, Cadbury, CocaCola and KFC. Still, few international names have dipped their toes in the water so far, despite consumers crying out for new places to shop.“In Dakar, furniture and clothing is really expensive, even when it’s second-hand,”one Senegalese friend tells me.“We hear about shops like Ikea and Primark and we’d love to see them open here. Everyone would go.”

So how long will it be before such retailers wise up?“I’d agree that consumers are looking for mass-market quality products [from the likes of] Primark, Zara and H&M,”Garcia cautions. “But entering these markets can be complex for those firms as they often face high import duties and transportation costs, and need to make sure that the market can handle their business. For Ikea, it’s going to take a long time before they enter the sub-Saharan African markets since it needs a very large customer base, as well as the right infrastructure and customs set-up.”

Yet as shopping malls develop and multiply, more and more brands should gain confidence. Add e-commerce to the mix, enabling companies to enter these sectors without going through the bricks-and-mortar store phase, and it could be that in 15 years, Africa will be the world’s new shopping center.

The China Factor “For the next 20 years, Africa will be the single-most important business destination for many Chinese mega-corporations.”So says Zhao Changhui, chief country risk analyst for the Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank).

The same could be said of the last ten years as well: A significant amount of the growth and investment in Africa can be attributed to huge amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) from China, whose continued interest in financing infrastructure projects throughout the continent – all while purchasing raw resources – shows no sign of abating.

According to FDI Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times, China’s FDI in Africa totaled $87 billion in 2014 – a 64 percent increase year over year. Cash loans from the East are also being pumped into infrastructure developments within Africa, with Eximbank providing the necessary funds for projects that meet both parties’ interests – essential roads for the local populations, and easy access to and from mining and other business centers for Chinese companies.

Such a close trading partnership means Chinese companies get first dibs on Africa’s rich commodities, which include oil, timber and copper. Infrastructure projects also pave the way for Chinese companies to secure lucrative service contracts in many African countries, which in turn attract a growing number of corporate travelers and increased travel demand.

14 n September 2016

China Southern Airlines and Air China, two of China’s largest carriers, launched flights to Africa last August, with the former now operating a three-times-weekly service between Guangzhou and Nairobi, Kenya. The latter, meanwhile, relaunched direct service from Beijing to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (10 hours and 52 minutes) following a 21-year hiatus, while also introducing new flights to Johannesburg in October 2015.

Bumpy Road Ahead?

However, the dependency of many African countries on Chinese investment poses a significant problem – highlighted by the effects of China’s economic slowdown last year. Chinese officials revealed in November 2015 that investment in Africa had fallen by some 40 percent during the first half of the year, as compared to the same period the year before.

Raw material prices have sunk in the wake of the global recession, weakening Africa’s position and raising Chinese fears of default of debt repayments. Adding to concerns is the recent trend in China towards a more consumer-led economy, which may lead to a waning appetite for commodities.

But despite these worrying undercurrents, Razia Khan, managing director and head of Africa research at Standard Chartered Bank, believes that trading will remain strong.“There has been a decline in commodity prices, which has impacted the value of China’s trade with Africa,”he says.“However, if you look at that trade growth in volume terms, it continues to grow strongly. Our view is that China remains focused on Africa.”

The challenge currently facing Africa is to overcome the economic headwinds (in which growth is weakened due to external factors out of its control) that are affecting the global economy and subsequently driving investors away from perceived riskier markets.

In particular, the African nations’ combined debt to China is quickly getting out of hand, and this became a major talking point at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg last December. Business Daily reported that several African countries would seek to renegotiate repayment of existing debts to China, in an attempt to alleviate the economic pressures brought on by low crude oil and commodity prices.

This is a temporary fix, noted Khan, and could hurt the region in the long run.“In South Africa, for instance, the net debt has, from around 20 percent of GDP during the global financial crisis, increased by a further 20 percentage points in a short space of time,”he said, adding that government debt of 60 percent of GDP is considered too high to be able to rein in and could threaten fiscal sustainability.

The road ahead for Africa could therefore be a rocky one, despite the billions of investment dollars and optimism from the retail sector. It will be interesting to see whether the sheer size in population and undeniable drive of Africa’s most influential nations will carry them through to a prosperous future. BT Visit businesstravelerusa.com

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n Loyalty

Loyalty Drives Trip Decisions

When it comes to vacation time, loyalty programs drive trip decisions, according to a recent survey. Almost two-thirds (61 percent) of travelers polled say that loyalty programs and points impact where they choose to stay on vacation. And 57 percent say they save up all their hotel loyalty points to use toward a summer vacation.

The bad news is, while almost half of American travelers (44 percent) have accumulated a lot of hotel loyalty points, they have no time off in which to use them. The online survey of 1,000 leisure travelers, which was conducted through Lightspeed GMI for Choice Hotels, found that nearly two thirds (62 percent) of business travelers add leisure time onto their business trips. And 69 percent of those who extend their business trips say they do it to have free time away from their family.

Q&A Residential Hotel Presents Friends with Benefits New York’s Q&A Residential Hotel is introducing its Friends with Benefits loyalty program. Located in Lower Manhattan, Q&A teamed up with several partners in the vicinity to provide repeat guests such features as a SoulCycle class, and a Maple meal delivered directly to their accommodations.

Upon joining, returning FWB members can take advantage of early check-in, late check-out, a free upgrade and welcome amenity gift. Further details about the program are available upon check-in, or by downloading the hotel’s mobile app. Guests can also use the Q&A app to view details about their accommodations, local attractions and restaurants, schedule wake up calls and view public transportation information. The app can be downloaded in the App Store or Google Play.

For details visit qandahotel.com.

Uber Rides May Be in the Cards Ride share giant Uber has a number of partnerships with credit card companies which will earn travelers free rides. For example, through March 2017, when you pay for your Uber with either the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card or the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card, every 10th Uber ride will be free.

To earn the rewards, in the Uber app change your primary method of payment to one of the two cards. Once the card information is entered, the system starts tracking your rides automatically. After nine Uber rides, you’ll get a notification saying you’ve earned a free ride, up to $15 in value.

Rides in UberX, Uber Select, Uber Pool and Uber Black earn credits toward a free ride. UberTaxi, UberEats and UberRush are excluded from this promotion.

The offer goes through March 2017, and free rides need to be redeemed by April 30, 2017.

For more information visit capitalone.com.

16 n September 2016

The Guestbook Doubles Rewards with Trip Cash The Guestbook loyalty program for nearly 500 boutique and independent hotels has announced its newest feature called Trip Cash. Guests now have a choice of getting 5 percent instant cash back on their stays at The Guestbook hotels, or receiving twice that amount – 10 percent – in Trip Cash to be redeemed at other participating hotels.

To redeem Trip Cash, members pay for their reward stay in full, then receive the cash back through PayPal or a choice of other rewards card options, including American Express, Visa, Target, Apple, Bloomingdales and more.

The Guestbook membership is free and only requires an e-mail address to register.

Guests must book a stay either directly on the hotel’s website or on The Guestbook’s site.

Visit theguestbook.com to get all of the details.

Choice Privileges Expands ‘Your Extras’ Choice Privileges, the guest loyalty program for Choice Hotels International, Inc., has added a series of new partners to its “Your Extras”benefit for midweek travelers. In the US, Choice Privileges members will now have the opportunity to earn Uber rides. In addition, Choice Privileges expanded local earning partners in Canada, where Canadian members may elect to earn additional, instant rewards from retail giant Amazon.ca and the Tim Hortons restaurant chain.

As part of its program redesign, Choice Privileges launched the new“Your Extras”benefit that offers weekday travelers an extra, instant reward delivered at check in. Members with a qualifying stay that includes one weekday night (any night Sunday – Thursday) can select instant rewards that include gas savings at Shell, credit at Amazon and Uber, or extra points and airline miles.“Your Extras”benefit options vary from US, Canadian and International Choice Hotels locations.

For more information visit choicehotels.com. BT

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PRICELINE FOUNDER As seen on Fox Business, Jay Walker’s new company, Upside, lets business travelers get $1,000 a year in free gift cards to their favorite store when they are a little flexible on hotels and flights.

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“To handle the volume and also provide superior 24/7 customer service, initially Upside business travel packages will only be sold to those business travelers who have asked us in advance for a spot on our VIP list,” he said.

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n Take Offs & Landings

The

future of first class With the quality of business class products rising, what’s the prognosis for premium seating?

By Clement Huang

18 n September 2016

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Take Offs & Landings n

T

he aviation industry appears to be reassessing the value of first class. Some still think of it as integral to their service offering, but there are those who have decided to eliminate the cabin class from their aircraft altogether.

United is one such airline. This December the carrier is set to introduce a slew of business class improvements, which will see it transform the existing BusinessFirst product into United Polaris – named after the brightest star in the Ursa Minor constellation.

First on the list is a brand new international business class seat, which can turn into a 180-degree fully-flat bed measuring six foot six inches. The new Polaris pods will be arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration, ensuring direct aisle access for all customers. The seat will come with standard business-friendly amenities such as power outlets and USB charging ports. The cabin will also offer enhanced inflight services and an all-new menu.

Finally, the airline will also introduce a new United Polaris lounge concept when it opens a new facility at Chicago O’Hare on Dec. 1. The concept will subsequently be introduced in eight other locations – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, New York/ Newark, Washington Dulles, Tokyo Narita, Hong Kong and London Heathrow in 2017.

While United Polaris signals the airline’s continued investment in its premium offerings, customers hoping to see improvements made in Global First are likely to be disappointed. The Star Alliance member has previously stated its intention to gradually remove that travel class from its portfolio, calling international first class“a losing business.”

Another North American airline that’s upping the ante for its premium product with its ground game is Air Canada. In addition to access to 21 Maple Leaf lounges at airports across the globe, international business class travelers can avail themselves of Air Canada’s Concierge Agents in 37 of the world’s airports. They are there to assist premium customers with day of flight issues, as well as special requests and last-minute arrangements, such as hotel and restaurant bookings.

Air Canada’s business class comes in two flavors – the classic pod and the more spacious executive pod. Either way, in addition to the aforementioned lounge access and Concierge service, international customers in the business class cabin get priority security clearance, priority boarding, plus a range of dining options and awardwinning wines.

However on Air Canada, as on many airlines, a dedicated socalled first class cabin nowadays is a thing of the past – and has been for many years.

Putting the Squeeze On The highly competitive business class offerings that have been developed in recent years have largely superseded what used to be called first class. Flat-bed seats in long-haul business class are no longer a rarity but are expected as the norm. Combined with multi-course meals served on fine china, state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment systems and personalized service, today’s business class is encroaching into the first class territory of yesteryear.

China Airlines (CAL) is a casualty of this trend. The Taiwanese carrier did offer first class on its 747-400 flights to the US, but retreated from the North American market last year. While it still operates the 747s on a number of short-haul, intra-Asia flights, its Left: Qatar Airways Airbus A380

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once traditional first class seats are currently marketed and sold as business class fares.

Meanwhile, CAL’s 747 replacement – the 777-300ER – has been configured to feature only a three-class layout: business, premium economy and economy. Last year, the airline’s chief executive Sun Huang-Hsiang revealed that,“the new Premium Business class is currently adequate for the company’s foreseeable future, and I believe that our customers will be very satisfied with it.”

The Suite Life While CAL may be eliminating first class soon, its CEO noted that it was cautiously looking into the possibility of introducing a new suites class standard.“Many airlines have eliminated first class, and changed to business, premium economy and economy class,” said Sun.“The talk that we’re having now is whether we should launch a suites class with much more luxurious amenities and service. But we do not anticipate very high demand for such an offering.”

Singapore Airlines (SIA) was the pioneer of the suites class, which it introduced on the A380 in 2007. However, the airline’s CEO Goh Choon Phong recently revealed that demand for the luxury class has been lukewarm, and SIA will be reducing capacity accordingly once the next batch of superjumbos is delivered.

“Going forward, you can expect we will be reducing the number of suites on the A380s,”said Goh.“What that number is, we’ll announce in due course. But the idea is to always better match demand and supply.”

One area on the map that appears immune to the quandary of first class is the Middle East. Etihad Airways’ A380, which it received in 2014, features The Residence. A super-luxury threeroom suite, it consists of a living room, bedroom and bathroom and is accompanied by a dedicated Savoy-trained butler service. Despite a hefty $32,000 price tag for a one-way flight between Abu Dhabi and New York, the product has been a hit.

“We have experienced an overwhelmingly positive response to The Residence within the US – beyond our expectations, in fact,” Etihad’s chief executive James Hogan said last year.“We are seeing healthy forward bookings.”

The reasons for the continuing success of first and suites class in the Middle East include the large numbers of super-wealthy businessmen, politicians and royalty who regularly connect through the region, and the fact that the big three Gulf carriers – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar – have built their reputations and brands largely around their luxury in-flight products.

A Step Up from First In an age of Sarbanes-Oxley where publicly listed companies are under increased scrutiny for perceived extravagance, corporations are more sensitive to how luxury spending is viewed by practically everyone – regulators and rank-and-file workers, the press, the shareholders and the general public.

And besides, with flat-bed seats in business class rapidly becoming the norm for long-haul flights, more and more companies have come to realize that their employees can still enjoy a healthy rest when flying in business, with little to no adverse effects on productivity. So what value is there in a considerably higher fare?

Of course, for some companies the most desirable – and perhaps most cost-effective – travel option for the ultra-affluent is private jet, especially when traveling in a group. And it’s a segment that has not gone unnoticed by commercial airlines, as a number of September 2016 n 19

n Take Offs & Landings

Clockwise: SIA suites; on board an Emirates Executive private jet; Etihad’s The Residence; Vistajet’s Challenger 850 interior

high-profile carriers have jumped on the bandwagon and launched similar products.

Etihad Airways announced last December that it had partnered with a private jet charter company, Victor, as a complement to its already impressive First Apartments and The Residence products

AIRPORT REPORT n LaGuardia Breaks Ground On New Central Terminal – New York City’s LaGuardia Airport has announced that it has broken ground on a $7 billion project that includes construction of a completely new state-of-the-art facility to replace the current Central Terminal Building, built in 1964. The project is the largest public-private partnership in US history, with LaGuardia Gateway Partners overseeing the construction and operation of the new facility and financing two-thirds of the cost.

The project includes the construction of Terminal B and C and a 3,000-space parking garage. Half of the new Terminal B gates are slated to open by 2018 while the main terminal area will be open in 2020. The remaining gates will open in two phases, in 2020 and 2021. The airport will remain open and functional during the construction phase.

The plan will connect Terminal B and Terminal C for the first time, and add space for security check-in. The airport will also get its first rail link with a new AirTrain from Mets-Willets Point subway and Long Island Rail Road stations. In the meantime, the Q70 bus service will be renamed the LaGuardia Link and become a part of Select Bus Service. n Heathrow Reduces Noise with Dreamliners – Heathrow airport is getting quieter. Virgin Atlantic has led the way with the replacement of its 747-400 aircraft with the new 787 Dreamliner.

Air Canada, Air India, British Airways and Qatar have also 20 n September 2016

on the A380. The agreement allows premium customers who fly with the Gulf carrier on its superjumbo to London or New York to connect with Victor’s private jet service to travel onward to destinations within the UK or US. Meanwhile, Emirates has taken things even further by launching its very own private jet service. Known as“Emirates Executive,” it allows customers to depart from either Dubai or Moscow and fly to more than 20 destinations worldwide, including Hong Kong, Bangkok and Tokyo.“We have seen an increasing demand in the private travel segment, especially in the Middle East and Europe as well as in markets such as India, Russia and China,”says Adnan Kazim, Emirates Airline’s divisional senior vice president of planning, aeropolitical and industry affairs.“We are looking to tap into this niche market.”

There was a time when flying was a two-class affair – coach or first. But today, first class has become only one among many options available to the upper echelons of travelers. And the exciting question is: Where does premium travel go from here? BT

increased use of the environmentally-friendly Dreamliners into Heathrow in 2016 contributing to a 6 percent improvement in the Fly Quiet league scores.

The airport has also placed heavy fees for airlines that fly older aircraft to Heathrow. The combination of heavy fees and more efficient, quieter aircraft is improving the noise quality at Heathrow.

“It’s encouraging to see the positive results of our engagement with airlines in these latest Fly Quiet results,” says Matt Gorman, Heathrow director of sustainability and environment. “Replacing aircraft with newer, quieter types is one of the best ways to reduce noise and that is why the progress shown in the latest league standings is so important.” n Newest Delta Sky Club Opens in Denver – Delta Sky Club opens its newest facility in Denver on Concourse A. The airline offers 40 peak-day departures to nine destinations from the “Mile High City” and added 4,600 square feet of space with seating for 90 guests.

“Denver is an emerging market for service in the western US,” says Claude Roussel, managing director, Delta Sky Club, “and opening a new Delta Sky Club combined with increasing service earlier this month means our guests are assured of having a more productive and pleasant travel experience, giving them another reason to fly Delta.”

To learn more visit delta.com.

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First Class with Door

Business Class (Staggered Layout)

ASIANA380 Business Class

11.1” Monitors in Economy Class

Dressing Room (Lavatory)

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Our staggered layout offers direct access to the aisle, more private space, and fully reclining flat-bed seats for a pleasant in-flight experience.

n Destinations

A city

with flair There’s no doubting it: from historic luxury hotels to chic shopping arcades and backstreet haunts, Paris has panache.

By Marisa Cannon

22 n September 2016

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Destinations n

O

n a brisk autumn night, the City of Lights is well and truly aglow. As opera lovers take their seats at the Palais Garnier, maidens of couture continue to mine the city’s elite maisons, and followers of Delacroix and da Vinci stream out of the world’s most renowned glass-fronted pyramid. It’s a typical, romantic image of Paris as it was on the eve of November 13, 2015.

On the 14th, a day after the brutal terrorist attacks that claimed 130 lives, the city was at a standstill. But within days, international headlines began to document proud Parisian resilience as football tournaments resumed, museums reopened and diners took to their favorite outdoor eateries once again.

France remains the most visited country in the world, and Paris, of course, is the raison d’être for many of these visits.

In spite of all that it has faced, the city continues to revel in its joie de vivre, delivering generously – and more proudly than ever – to its guests in hospitality, luxury experiences and culture.

Parisian Piscine Paris’s hotel portfolio is plentiful, but an exciting addition is Hotel Molitor – a modern revival of the famed Piscine Molitor. Opened in 1929, Molitor was the French capital’s best-known public swimming pool, and the place to be seen, often visited by celebrities and gentry keen on its modern, art deco design.

The pool operated for 60 years before descending into disuse and becoming home to a significant underground rave scene, though much of the pool’s modernday fame can be credited to Man Booker winner Life of Pi, whose protagonist is named Piscine after the Molitor. It remained closed until 2014 when it was bought by French hotel group Accor and relaunched as the Hotel Molitor.

Today, the Molitor building offers an authentic homage to the original pool with an accompanying modern design hotel.

A substantial $109 million was plunged into the project by investment firm Colony Capital, which spent the funds on stainedglass windows, mosaic tiling, Scandinavian furnishings and design accents which were drawn from the pool’s original yellow-andblue color scheme.

Exotic tokens such as a spray-painted Rolls Royce in the lobby and graffiti murals complement the hotel’s design focus Visit businesstravelerusa.com

with pared-back, contemporary luxury taking center stage in the rooms, which come with Bose sound systems, espresso machines and Clarins toiletries.

The pool is of course central to the hotel’s appeal, and while hotel guests are obviously free to use it, a variety of day packages are available to non-guests who wish to swim or visit the spa.

Shopper’s Paradise For many, shopping is the priority in Paris, and true aficionados flock to Rue Lafayette and the Champs-Elysées as the one-stop – if slightly overwhelming – destination for all retail needs. For those after a quieter experience, Galerie Vivienne near the Palais-Royal presents an alternative to the more famous locales; it was one of the city’s first shopping malls, and is now home to a curated collection of luxury boutiques.

Built in 1823, the gallery was originally populated by tailors, cobblers, wine shops, drapers and the like, before it lost its appeal to Paris’s grand boulevards – a result of George-Eugène Haussman’s 19thcentury revolution of city planning and architecture.

Today, its shop spaces have been repurposed for big names like Jean-Paul Gaultier as well as smaller, local fashion houses, and what is considered by many to be Paris’s best wine shop, Les Caves Legrand. During the day, natural light from the gallery’s long dome atrium illuminates the mosaic walkways and its neoclassical statues, offering shoppers Opposite page: The Champs Elysées at night Below: Hotel Molitor

an elegant setting in which to flout their credit limits.

A Wardrobe Revealed A short walk from the Pont d’Iéna bridge – which crosses the Seine and leads to the Eiffel Tower – is Palais Galliera, a lesserknown fixture on Paris’ list of eminent museums but a haven for the fashionenthralled.

Though couture has been in the city’s lifeblood since before Marie Antoinette, the process of founding a museum for the art was surprisingly cumbersome. Initial plans were begun in 1907 by the Société de l’Histoire du Costume, which recognized the city’s rising prominence in the field and sought to create a dedicated focal point for its historical significance.

Only in 1977 however, and after various name and venue changes, did the Palais Galliera finally become the museum’s first independent home. Today, visitors can get their fill of stylish collections (all temporary) including haute couture, 18th- and 19th-century costumes, undergarments and accessories.

Through October 23, the current exhibition reveals The Anatomy of a Collection. Who wears what? asks the museum’s website. The garment tells the story of the wearer, from the corsets of Marie Antoinette to a blouse worn by a World War I nurse whose name is lost to history. The collection brings together a hundred pieces of clothing and accessories, including such items as a gown from the wardrobe of the Empress Josephine and a Givenchy two-piece dress worn by Audrey Hepburn. Other well-known names include Sarah Bernhardt, George Sand and

September 2016 n 23

n Destinations

Clockwise from top left: Palais Galliera; Canal Saint Martin; Les Caves Legrand and Galerie Vivienne

Clockwise from top left: Palais Galliera; Canal Saint Martin; Les Caves Legrand and Galerie Vivienne

the Duchess of Windsor, whose fashions share pride of place with work aprons and convicts’ uniforms.

Historic Haunts Toward the city’s péripherique – the ring road encompassing its urban center – are Paris’s grittier edges, where midweek vintage clothing markets overflow with Parisians searching for new trends, and rows of no-frills boulangères tout some of the city’s best baked goods.

A stroll down the famous Rue La Fayette brings you to the intersection of Rue de Faubourg Montmartre and later to Rue Richer and Rue D’Hauteville. Here, in the 10th arrondissement, is a charming, slightly dilapidated district known for its wholesale fur shops and where the city’s bobos (bourgeois bohemians) have begun to occupy cheap loft spaces, surrounded by bistros and cafés.

The 10th is also home to Porte Saint Martin, the site of one of Paris’s old fortified gateways, built during the reign of 24 n September 2016

Louis XIV in 1674. Above the monument’s enormous archways, reliefs depict the military victories of Louis’ heyday, accompanied by a Latin inscription exalting the monarch’s defeat of German, Spanish and Dutch armies.

Approaching from Rue du Faubourg Saint Martin – a slender street inlaid with fromageries and cafés – the monument is an illustrious if incongruous memento of Paris’s historic prominence, and makes for an impressive backdrop as you relax at one of the nearby cafés with a coffee and croissant.

Continuing eastward over the scenic Canal Saint Martin and along Avenue de la République will lead you to the enormous cemetery of Père Lachaise – home to the graves of a variety of artistic greats. Sixties pop legend Jim Morrison, composer Frédéric Chopin and Italian sculptor Amedeo Modigliani are some of those interred in the 108-acre grounds, which are located near the city’s eastern edge in the 20th arrondissement.

The vast complex, which houses close to 70,000 tombs, is navigable thanks to signboards that show how to get to the most visited graves: unsurprisingly, these include The Doors’ Morrison and Oscar Wilde, with other notables including singer Edith Piaf, post-Impressionist painter Georges-Pierre Seurat, playwright Molière and writers Honoré Balzac, Marcel Proust and Gertrude Stein all garnering a steady throughflow of fascinated fans.

Another feature of interest is the Mur des Fédérés, or Wall of the Federalists, which commemorates the evening of May 27, 1871, when the remaining Communard insurgents (supporters of the radical socialist Paris Commune) fought an all-night battle among the cemetery’s tombstones. The arrival of morning revealed just 147 survivors, all of whom were ordered up against a brick wall, shot and buried in a mass grave.

Today, the wall is a moving symbol of the people’s struggle for a common ideal and independence – near to which many leaders of the French Communist Party and the French Resistance have been buried.

Though not so uplifting, the monument underlines one of France’s great ordeals and the progress it has made towards peace and prosperity – a heartening reminder that nothing can extinguish this City of Lights. BT Visit businesstravelerusa.com

n Destinations

BOOM town India’s Millennium City has seen a meteoric rise from a cluster of villages to a thriving metropolis

By Akanksha Maker

DLF LIMITED; DLF5; ISTOCK

I

ndia’s National Capital Region, the huge metropolitan area that encompasses the city of New Delhi, stretches spoke-like into the surrounding states as a bevy of satellite cities. One of the most important of these is situated in the state of Haryana.

Once no more than a barren stretch of villages, today Gurgaon is home to more than 250 of India’s Fortune 500 companies, 26 luxury malls boasting outlets for the likes of Chanel and Louis Vuitton, lush golf courses, premium car showrooms and upmarket recreation venues.

Gurgaon has been nicknamed India’s “Millennium City,” reflecting the development the country aspires to.

However, in an attempt to bring the citizens of Gurgaon closer to their heritage, the state government accepted a request in April for its name to be changed to Gurugram (“guru” translates as“teacher” and “gram” to“village”).

Before India gained independence in 1947, only a few hundred people lived in Gurgaon’s founding communities. By 1971 the population reached 57,000. Today, the city is home to more than 1.8 million people and has an impressive per capita annual income of Rs 446,000 ($6,670), compared with the national average of Rs 88,533 ($1,325).

Although commonly associated with Delhi, Gurgaon also has borders with the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, making its location highly strategic for business. From Indira Gandhi International airport, a 40-minute drive along National Highway 8 brings you to the center of the city. Its proximity to the capital – and the 26 n September 2016

country’s policymakers – proved to be very appealing to the visionaries and investors who saw the area’s immense potential.

Farsighted Vision As you drive along, you’ll notice a large “DLF”stamped on most of the high-rise buildings. More than any other person, it is Kushal Pal Singh, chairman and chief executive of DLF – India’s largest commercial real-estate developer – who is behind the city’s building boom.

“When the idea first took hold of me that a world-class city could be built on the vast tracts of desolate land at the foot of the Aravallis in Haryana, nobody took me seriously. Reactions ranged from open ridicule to concern for my sanity,”wrote Singh in his autobiography, Whatever the Odds: The Incredible Story Behind DLF. Yet today, the company owns nearly 3,000 acres of this industrial region.

While car manufacturer Maruti Udyog (now Maruti Suzuki) was the first company to lay its foundations here when it opened in 1982, it was DLF’s acquisition of land at the end of the 20th century that gave investors confidence in the area’s potential.

The roots of Singh’s vision can be traced back to a chance meeting in 1980 with the then soon-to-be prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Bumping into each other in an isolated part of Haryana, Gandhi heard Singh explain his vision for Gurgaon.

In his book, Singh recalled: “He became interested and pressed me on the issue.

‘What is holding it up and why don’t you do it?’This one incident was to transform Gurgaon from a rural wilderness into an international city.”

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Destinations n

Image: Gateway Tower, DLF Cybercity Gurgaon

Before 1947, only a few hundred people lived in Gurgaon’s founding communities. Today, it’s home to more than 1.8 million

Gandhi urged Singh to present his idea to Arun Singh, the union minister at the time and, as a result, the area was developed under a private-sector model, with DLF paving the way.

The process of land acquisition led to the inception of a unique business model. The farmers sold their land to DLF, but then became business partners by reinvesting the money back into the company. Singh’s rural and defense industry background, and DLF’s unsullied reputation, encouraged farmers to trust him.

Soon after, Singh invited high-profile business leader Jack Welch, CEO of US industrial giant General Electric, to visit India and explore the idea of setting up Genpact – a business unit within GE. Latika Thukral, founder of Iamgurgaon, a charitable organization that works to raise quality of life in the area, says: “From there on, the city has seen a meteoric rise in terms of investment, with several multinational companies setting up base.”

A Quarter Century On “In the past 25 years, Gurgaon has developed rapidly,”Thukral adds. “At present, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies have their offices here, along with the manufacturing units of automobile giants such as Hero Motocorp, and most telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Sony, Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung. DLF has contributed to the real-estate boom in the city, which now boasts some of the country’s premium condominiums and luxury apartments.”

Add to this quality educational institutions and seven-star hospitals Visit businesstravelerusa.com

such as Medanta Medicity, which have mushroomed here, and it’s no wonder the place was made India’s first Millennium City – said to rival Bengaluru and Chennai for its contribution to the country’s software exports. A number of corporations now have thriving offshore centers here, while outsourced solution centers for the information technology and software industries have also been set up.

International players that have picked the city for their Indian headquarters include Pepsi, IBM, American Express, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Bank of America.

Such rapid industrialization has created job opportunities for both Indians and expats, and many corporations have developed company townships that allow employees to find places to live that are relatively close to their work.

These integrated communities have flourished – housing cinemas, gyms, grocery stores, social centers, playing fields and schools. Thukral says: “Multinationals that set up bases in Gurgaon invited Millennials from Delhi and the rest of India to join their workforce. A huge migrant population now calls Gurgaon home.”

As part of Haryana state, the responsibility for planning Gurgaon’s infrastructure was handed over to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). Given that the land was previously lacking in facilities, HUDA started from scratch: setting up schools, colleges, hospitals, police and fire stations, bus shelters, nursing homes and community buildings, as well as sewage systems to manage waste and maintain hygiene standards.

September 2016 n 27

n Destinations

WHERE TO STAY

DUSIT DEVARANA Located on National Highway 8, ten minutes from Indira Gandhi International Airport and a 20-minute drive from the Qutub Minar, Dusit Devarana offers corporate travelers a premium experience. Four room types – Devarana Pool, Devarana Garden View, Premium Pool View and Premium Garden View – all contain the usual luxury amenities, including LED TVs, complimentary wifi, a minibar and tea/coffee maker. The hotel features a modern business center; the IAH Bar – a lounge that makes a good setting for casual business meetings; and a multi-cuisine restaurant called Kiyan. devarana.in LEMON TREE PREMIER, LEISURE VALLEY Lemon Tree Premier, Leisure Valley is situated in Gurgaon’s city center, and is close to the Leisure Valley Park, Unitech Business Park, Kingdom of Dreams and Cyber

City. An ideal option for corporate travel because of its location and convenience, the hotel presents a zesty atmosphere through a fresh lemony aroma that fills the lobby. Room categories include Superior, Deluxe, Executive and Studio rooms, as well as Executive suites. The hotel also features a bar, coffee shop, business center, conference room, spa and swimming pool. lemontreehotels.com HYATT REGENCY GURGAON Hyatt Regency Gurgaon is a 40-minute drive from Indira Gandhi International Airport and 15 minutes from the city center. Presenting a contemporary design language, its room categories range from Standard and Regency Club rooms to Regency King suites, a Regency Executive suite and one Presidential suite. The hotel features a fitness center, swimming pool, lounge, two bars and a spa. The property is used by business and leisure travelers alike, and features state-of-the-art meeting rooms, multiple dining options and premium leisure facilities. regency.hyatt.com

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A vital part of the infrastructure was to build and maintain the road system, creating new motorways and wider, welllit avenues as the population grew. The agency has also built a 44-mile long water channel from Sonepat (in Haryana) to Gurgaon that supplies 100 million gallons a day to up to 1.6 million people.

Economic Engine As the economic driver for Haryana state, which has a mostly rural population that exists incongruously near to the city’s gleaming skyscrapers, the city bears some responsibility for the broader development of the area. This is helped by the boosting of state coffers from foreign direct investment. However, in the midst of the multinationals, a Gurgaon-based company called Oxigen is aiming to bring economic empowerment to rural India.

The company’s footprint now stretches across 192 towns and is the brainchild of founder Pramod Saxena. Oxigen seeks to Visit businesstravelerusa.com

Destinations n

Left: DLF5 residences; DLF Emporio

“At present, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies have their offices here” bridge the gap between India’s villages and financial services of all kinds. This is done via its vast network of more than 200,000 retail touchpoints offering mobile phone top ups, bill payments, money transfers, banking and travel services.

“Currently, banks cannot penetrate the remote areas of Haryana because of high operational costs,”Saxena says.“However, Oxigen has developed its presence in these rural locations by tying up with retailers who provide money transfer services to people who previously didn’t have access to banks.”

The firm’s business model aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a“digital India,”which made headlines late last year following his visit to California’s Silicon Valley.

The company has developed a rural engagement program to connect with a large potential customer base living in inaccessible places, and support access to health, education and employment. Saxena says: “We also routinely conduct financial literacy camps in these villages, where we distribute leaflets and show videos to educate on financial services and money transfer facilities.”

In a place where more than half the population doesn’t have a bank account, and only 23 percent have a usable credit history, Oxigen’s efforts are commendable, and underscore the region’s contribution to India’s growth.

Gurgaon’s journey from a backwater to a premier model city sets a high standard for nascent satellite conurbations across the country. It’s also an example of what can be achieved when a bright vision is backed up by harmonized planning and development. From burgeoning multinationals to home-grown companies that foster the development of Haryana, and of India as a whole, this city’s success is a milestone in the chronology of a forward-thinking India. BT Visit businesstravelerusa.com

September 2016 n 29

n Cover Story

Kicked into High Gear

Entrepreneurs are on a roll with crowdfunding

MAIN IMAGE PHOTOGRAPHER TYRONE RHABB/KICKSTARTER IMAGE, NBC

By David Weiner

30 n September 2016

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Cover Story n

Editor’s Note: Crowdfunding is a way to fund projects or enterprises by raising money from a large group of people (the crowd) as an alternative to the traditional sources of financial backing.

W

hile the name crowdfunding has been around for only about a decade, the concept goes much farther back in history. Crowdfunding saved the Bank of England in the 1730s, when depositors made a run on the bank that was founded in 1694. Until confidence in the pound was restored, London’s merchants crowdfunded their own currency.

For a more recent example, visit the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.

In 1885, the monumental pedestal upon which she sits was crowdfunded by 160,000 donors in a newspaper-led campaign after government financing for its installation fell through.

Most recently, crowdfunding has rocketed into the popular consciousness thanks to hundreds of Internet platforms (‘registries’) which, for a fee generally between 5 and 15 percent, bring together people who have the ideas (known as the ‘project initiators’) with a community of supporters. In 2014, crowdfunding worldwide raised over $16 billion, which more than doubled to an estimated $34 billion in 2015.

Artists and musicians use the crowdfunding model to finance concert tours, books and films. And the phenomenon has spread into all sorts of other enterprises, with initiators looking for funding for everything from launching clothing lines to getting breast augmentation.

In fact, according to a report on the personal finance website Econible, one entrepreneur, Zack Brown, set out to raise $10 to make a bowl of potato salad. But his campaign went viral and generated $55,000 from over 6900 backers. Brown ended up throwing a potato salad party with over 3,000 pounds of potatoes.

Brown’s spud windfall came courtesy of Kickstarter, a global platform which raised over $400 million in 2014. Another Kickstarter alum is David Weiner, founder of Priority Bicycles. Dave shares his story of a passion for two-wheelers and how crowdfunding continues to help him market his products to the world.

The Kickstarter Story Technology and social media are changing the art of business in a big way. Thanks to crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, the democratization of individual dollars is empowering small companies with big ideas to compete on a large scale.

Kickstarter has given birth to a new wave of businesses, where entrepreneurs can turn to the Kickstarter community

to raise capital for product development, production and expansion, instead of using private equity and other forms of institutional investment.

Personally, I’ve found the Kickstarter community to be incredible. Without this community I don’t think my small company would have been able to grow so fast – all while receiving so much valuable product feedback from its customers.

Compared to traditional fundraising, crowdfunding via Kickstarter offers capital funding, a feedback-driven customer base, and full retention of ownership and control of your new business.

I never thought it was possible to launch a small company that could compete with the big boys. In the old days, large companies could launch new products easily and without much competition.

Since they had the capital, they could craft a catchy message and buy expensive ads that smaller companies couldn’t afford. This got them the eyeballs. These eyeballs turned into the sales. But thanks to Kickstarter, it’s now possible to create market awareness and begin selling new products without heavy capital by simply relying on the general public.

Building the Dream Growing up I worked in a small bicycle shop. I was never into fast competition style bikes; instead I liked recreational bikes and also enjoyed helping others find the right bicycle that would fit their needs.

My dream at that time was to someday have my own bicycle shop. As my career developed, I worked for a large bicycle manufacturer before going into the software industry. I saw the software business transform from a small, privately held startup to a larger, publicly listed company.

As our small company grew into a big company, I watched the cultural landscape change. In early 2014 I resigned so that I could chase my dream of having my own bicycle shop. I had major decisions to make – first, how to make my products innovative; next, how to distribute and sell them; and finally, how to fund the venture.

I had been thinking about the design concepts for this new bicycle company for years. However, making this new company

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September 2016 n 31

n Cover Story

my“Priority” was now the challenge. After resigning my job I began to use my free time to work on bringing my ideas and designs of recreational bicycles that were free of routine maintenance to market.

Using a grease-free belt drive and gears/ brakes that were internal to the hub, I had the basic recipe.

I knew that to open a brick and mortar store would require extensive capital and time that I didn’t have, plus it would limit the geography of customers my new company could reach. Therefore, starting as an online only retailer seemed like a low overhead way to ensure I could reach customers around the world, and offer better prices.

Beyond that, I wanted this company to listen to its customers for direction, not a board of directors. So in mid-2014 Priority Bicycles launched on Kickstarter. The goal was to see if others liked my idea of low maintenance, affordable recreational bicycles.

they are enjoying their bicycles, along with any feedback they have and ideas for improvement.

If any of our riders have a problem with their bike, it’s our job to fix it right away. Given that Priority Bicycles only exists online, our reputation is only as good as our latest online customer review. This means the only way we can survive is with 100 percent customer satisfaction.

We know that if we simply listen to our backers, and make decisions that they feel are right, that we’ll continue to receive their backing, and that they will also spread the word about our company, telling their friends, and hopefully increasing our pool of future backers. Since we use social media as our main form of communication, word can spread very fast.

As we get ready to launch our third Kickstarter campaign for the next bike, the“Priority Coast,”the ultimate low maintenance, rust free beach cruiser, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about why we are going back to Kickstarter.

The simple answer is that I couldn’t imagine a better way to launch a new product, or a better way to sustain and grow our company.

Being a crowdfunded business means that we’ll continue to bring new ideas to our customers early and use crowdfunding techniques and social media to reach our desired audience. We’ll continue to ask potential future customers to“back” us, or support our ideas by pre-ordering our products at a reduced price. We’ll be hyperactive online, focusing on great customer

Being a crowdfunded business means that we’ll continue to bring new ideas to our customers early

service with the goal of building the most loyal, happy riders who believe in our mission, products and values.

I hope other young entrepreneurs with strong vision can utilize this concept to crowdfund their business, new product or service. The financial and marketing tools to be successful are at your fingertips; launching a new business is easier than it has ever been. Your potential customers can fuel your growth if you’re willing to let them in to provide valuable feedback.

My advice – don’t focus on how to raise money, focus on how to create innovative and great products, and then let the public decide. BT

Priority Next Fast forward to today: Priority Bicycles is a successful company with thousands of bicycles all over the world. In the last two years we’ve raised $600,000 via Kickstarter.

Our small team wakes up every day knowing that our“backers”make our jobs a reality. Backers are our Kickstarter donors; these are the people who believe in us enough to pre-order our products (often at a discount from MSRP) before these products even exist beyond prototype.

We spend our days listening to our thousands of backers talking about how 32 n September 2016

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n Tried & Tested

Le Méridien Versailles Montreal

BACKGROUND: After a top-to-bottom transformation, Le Méridien Versailles has reinvented itself from the penthouse to the lobby, to the coffee, cocktails, desserts, and places of conversation. This is a vibrant and reimagined destination for those coming from afar or just around the corner.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? Ideally located minutes from the Golden Square Mile and just steps away from the best shopping, venues and attractions in Montreal, Le Méridien Versailles reflects the brand’s commitment to incorporate the locality into its mid-century design. As you enter the property, you will begin to see the makeover unfold. Experience the spirit of the hotel and Montreal – whether checking in, gathering in Le Méridien Hub, or just admiring the ceiling in the elevator.

A traditional hotel lobby space is usually passé; however the concept of the Le Méridien Hub brings a sense of place, purpose and belonging to the common areas. Locals, tourists, business travelers alike often flow onto the streetside café seating bringing that Parisian flavor both in and outside.

WHERE IS IT? The mid-rise hotel fits in well along Rue Sherbrooke, a downtown Montreal street lined with brownstones. The Le Méridien Versailles is in the midst of the city’s best dining and shopping in a distinctly Parisian atmosphere.

ROOM FACILITIES: I am often guilty of saying a room is a room; but here, this is not at all the case. The hotel was formerly a condominium building, so the rooms are quite spacious by city center standards, with large windows.

34 n September 2016

TESTED BY Ross Atkinson HOW MANY ROOMS? 108 rooms and suites PROPERTY HIGHLIGHTS

Mine was a corner room with windows that wrap around for great views over Montreal. I would highly recommend asking for this room type just for the grand cityscapes.

The contemporary furnishings with a large work desk and comfortable chair make for a much-needed remote office. Note the custom made wallpaper; it really drew me into the room. WiFi connections were brisk and an included amenity throughout the property for SPG members who book on the website.

RESTAURANTS AND BARS: Imagine launching your hotel’s restaurant and bar concepts by first having a renowned mixologist, barrista and pastry chef design innovative coffee, cocktail and pastry creations for the property from local flavors. The Montréal Éclair, conjured up by Le Méridien global pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini, is fashioned with smoked maple, sweet cheese curd and malt.

This unique approach to the spirits and desserts is worth mentioning. However the hotel is also home to executive chef, Alexandre St-AmandTremblay and the Branzino Restaurant, a gourmet Mediterranean-inspired cuisine open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Refurbished top-to-bottom, with spacious rooms and plenty of SPG perks, in close proximity to the highlights of Montreal PRICE Internet rates for a midweek stay in August started at C$217 ($168) for a deluxe king bed or C$233 ($181) for a deluxe junior corner suite with an additional 20 percent discount for SPG members.

BUSINESS AND MEETING FACILITIES: The hotel features 2,600 square feet of newly renovated meeting and event space across four rooms with AirMedia technology and panoramic windows.

To avoid daydreaming out the windows, remote controlled blinds are also part of the package.

LEISURE ACTIVITIES: Upon arrival, guests receive a limited edition room key designed specifically to Unlock Art, a program that offers complimentary access to galleries and institutions. The Montreal Le Méridien’s Unlock Art introduced me to the Canadian Centre for Architecture. What I imagined as a short visit turned into several hours inside this remarkable museum.

Guests can also take a Priority Bicycles cruising bike offered by the hotel for a leisurely ride along the St. Lawrence River on your way to Old Montreal using streets and bike paths.

CONTACT Le Méridien Versailles 1808 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC, H3H 1E5, Canada; tel (514) 933 8111, lemeridienversailleshotel.com.

FACILITIES R x MP3 DOCK R x WI FI R x MINI BAR R x 24hr CONCIERGE R x MEETING ROOM R x EXECUTIVE FLOOR R x RESTAURANT R x BAR R x SPA R POOL R x GYM

VERDICT: I am a fan. This property, location, and truly unique products and services deliver a great experience. Not only would I would revisit on business; I would happily stay to experience more of the city, its people and art. BT Visit businesstravelerusa.com

Tried & Tested n

United Business

San Francisco (SFO) — Xi’an (XIY) TESTED BY Kathryn Creedy PLANE TYPE 787-8 SEAT CONFIGURATION

UNITED/SIMONE ANNE LANG

2-2-2

BACKGROUND: United’s strategy to go beyond the traditional Chinese gateways of Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, mirrors efforts

by Chinese carriers to serve secondary cities. However the term ‘secondary’ is a bit misleading; in fact, China’s top five cities are over 10 million each. Those numbers give new meaning to what cities can sustain in terms of air service and United already serves five of the top 10 Chinese markets.

In May United introduced seasonal nonstop service between San Francisco and Xi’an, an important cultural, economic and educational center with facilities for China’s space exploration program, and perhaps best known as the site of the Terracotta Warriors.

The nonstop service, the first ever between the Golden Gate and the entrance to the Silk Road, runs from early May to late October.

THE SEAT: United is said to be lagging its US legacy peers in premium services but you could not tell that by its thriceweekly Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner service to Xi’an. It was, in fact, elegant.

The experience was a departure from my previous premium flights where I dragged through the flight in red-eyed bleariness. Not so United’s BusinessFirst Visit businesstravelerusa.com

SEAT PITCH 78 in/198 cm SEAT WIDTH 20.6 in/52.3 cm SEAT LENGTH 6’6” sleeping space SEAT RECLINE 180 degrees PRICE

experience which combines the two classes on its 787s. The cabin was arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration with a roomy 78inch seat pitch. The lie-flat seat was so comfortable it allowed me to sleep soundly and awake refreshed, something I have never been able to do no matter how long the flight or how luxurious the seats.

THE FLIGHT: From the very beginning I was favorably impressed by what I think is United’s secret weapon when it comes to service, Flight Attendant Momo, whose friendliness and effervescence is a destination in itself. She not only brought back the luxuriousness of international flying but added a sense of fun that showed she was enjoying the flight as much as I. United provides noisecanceling headphones for the IFE which offered a host of movie selections. The amenity kit, a fuselage-like tin, provided

Internet Rates for BusinessFirst round trip: $3,142.36 CONTACT united.com

the usual comfort items courtesy of the airline’s new partnership with Cowshed with its signature botanical fragrances that are alluring yet not overly perfumed. There was free WiFi on board but service was frustratingly spotty and the seat afforded both USB and plug power-ports but the latter interfered with the sound system.

From the pre-flight Mimosa through the entire meal service, everything was tasty.

The menu combined Western tastes with Eastern dishes including Shanghai beef, chicken, stir-fried prawns in

five-spice sauce and stir-fried noodles. Chinese noodle soup was served as a midflight treat, and for late-night munchies, fruit and light snacks were on hand. Sinfully topped ice cream and a cheese platter completed the decadent meal service. Just before landing, we were served a breakfast with both Western and Chinese choices, such as congee, a rice porridge.

VERDICT: Under its new leadership United is doing a top-to-bottom review of every facet of its business, including its efforts to win back premium passengers. Clearly it’s time to take a second look at United’s premium services and its transPacific offerings. BT September 2016 n 35

We Make Your Business Ours You’ll find our hotels and restaurants are designed to delight, thanks to the perk-y extras like our hosted nightly wine hour, award-winning restaurants, yoga mats in every room, complimentary PUBLIC bikes and free WiFi for Kimpton Karma Rewards members. Add our bold, playful design and you have the ultimate boutique hotel stay at over 65 hotels in 30 cities.

KIMPTONHOTELS.COM

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44 Hail the Revolution

50 Slow Mo in Tahiti

54 What’s On 56 Singapore

58 Staying Different

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n Lifestyle News

WiFi More Important Than Breakfast A recent survey of travelers has found that in-room WiFi is more important than a hotel’s location, parking and even complimentary breakfast. The Research+Data Insights poll of 800 economy and mid-tier travelers nationwide found that complimentary WiFi came in second only to cost when considering booking a hotel stay.

According to the research, 80 percent of economy travelers have a more favorable opinion of a hotel offering complimentary WiFi with guaranteed speeds. The study also found that Millennials are two times more likely than other age groups to stream video or music and play online games using hotel WiFi.

Lyft Offers Luxury Rides Lyft, the transportation network provider, has announced the addition of a new ride option that lets passengers request a high-end sedan or SUV. Lyft Premier offers passengers the option of luxury vehicles like a BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Lexus ES, or Cadillac Escalade.

Lyft Premier is available now in the Bay Area, Los

Montreal International Airport Welcomes a Landmark Eatery The historic L’Auberge Saint-Gabriel Restaurant has arrived at Montreal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Originally built in 1688 in Old Montreal, the restaurant has become an institution so its opening at the airport introduces travelers to the unique identity of the city. Menus include breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The restaurant is located in the terminal’s recently expanded international jetty and offers floor-to-ceiling windows for those who love plane watching.

Visit aubergesaint-gabriel.com for details.

Order Airport Dining On the Go

Angeles and New York, reflecting increased use among businesses. It joins other Lyft vehicle categories including Lyft Classic, Lyft Line for commuting and Lyft Plus for traveling with larger groups of passengers.

Find out more at lyft.com.

38 n September 2016

HMSHost and Grab have partnered to expand the availability of mobile food and beverage ordering at HMSHost restaurants at over 80 airports across North America. The pairing integrates HMSHost’s technology and tools with the Grab mobile app to let travelers order food from menus at many of the 300 brands and 2,000 restaurant locations that HMSHost operates. Currently, Grab offers mobile ordering at over 110 restaurants located in 15 airports nationwide.

“This is a huge step towards increasing the convenience of dining for travelers,” says Jeff Yablun, HMSHost executive vice president and chief commercial officer.“Through this partnership we are combining the broad reach of HMSHost’s airport dining offerings with Grab’s rising mobile ordering platform to enhance the experience for the large base of travelers.”

Visit hmshost.com or grabmobileapp. com to learn more.

AC Hotels By Marriott Partners with Startup Grind AC Hotels By Marriott and Startup Grind, the largest independent startup community across the globe, have announced a partnership with benefits for Startup Grind’s members.

“Startup Grind inspires and connects entrepreneurs in more than 200 cities,” says Derek Andersen, the founder and CEO of Startup Grind.

“Our relationship with AC Hotels provides a global footprint for our members to have access to beautifully designed spaces, perfect for co-working, networking or hosting frictionless meetings.”

The AC Hotels group, which is based in Spain, offers Startup Grind members access to inspired spaces in which they can collaborate and connect, with complimentary WiFi and preferred pricing on meeting spaces.

For more information visit startupgrind.com or achotels. marriott.com.

Residence Inn and Under Armour Team Up for New Fitness App While maps on mobile devices may help travelers solve the problem of finding an appropriate running path in a new city, there are always challenges. Residence Inn and Under Armour have developed curated two-mile or longer routes for guests to use from each of Residence Inn’s 700 properties in nine countries.

Under Armour’s Map My Fitness app can be downloaded on both iOS and Andriod devices. The app gives runners routes through cities – and even if you’re not a runner – it will take you on some great walks. In New York City for example the route takes you from One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum over to the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House in Battery Park.

Visit residenceinn.marriott. com for details. BT Visit businesstravelerusa.com

n Well Being

Relax & Reboot

Forget sleeping pills – here are seven spa treatments that are just the ticket to ease jet lag from those Asian long-hauls

By Catherine Nicol

40 n September 2016

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Well Being n

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raveling to exotic Asian destinations for work always sounds exciting, until you realize that the only interaction you’ll get with the tropical beach is through the conference room window. Plus, before you arrive there’s the hours taken up pushing through traffic to the airport, negotiating check-in and immigration queues, crunching yourself up in your airline seat and turning exhaustedly square-eyed, before landing in a different time zone, disoriented and dead beat.

Flying takes its toll – physically, mentally and emotionally. We’ve all experienced the joys of jet lag when our body clocks go haywire. As free-spirited as our minds may be, our bodies are creatures of habit, used to a regular pattern of sleeping, eating and drinking. Our circadian rhythms, the things that manage biological systems and hormone production, are also governed by external factors such as regular daylight.

And they like their 24/7 routine.

Hop on a plane and fly half-way round the world and our central nervous system, which controls the release of cortisol (to help us wake up) and melatonin (to help

Clockwise from opposite page top and below: Spa Ceylon Boutique and Urban Spa, Colombo; Amatrra Spa, Delhi; and Aveda Lifestyle Salon & Spa, Tokyo

us sleep), fires at the wrong times. Fighting against these biological processes results in shades of fatigue that range from irritation to total brain fog and, more often than you’d like to admit, an embarrassing lack of consciousness mid tedious presentation.

Numerous studies suggest that even with as little as one-and-a-half-hour’s less sleep than usual, you’ll be operating at 32 percent of your normal productivity.

Cerebrally, lack of rest affects the memory, thought processes and how you process information – all key skills when under pressure to perform.

In addition, rather more personal issues like dehydration, headaches, digestive problems, nausea, anxiety and mild depression, as well as the dreaded insomnia, can hit at the least convenient times. The bottom line? Rest is important both long- and short-term.

Take a look online and it seems there are as many solutions to jet lag as people suffering from it. But one way of addressing the problem – without sleeping pills, countless cups of caffeine or complicated time difference calculations – is taking a trip to the nearest spa.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Stimulating your body’s circulation helps to expel fluid retention and toxins while helping your nervous system, body and mind relax.

Certain treatments can also encourage your circadian rhythm to readjust, bringing you back into something resembling balance.

Plus, a massage is great for ironing out the kinks created by airline seats.

It might not sound as fun, but some low lights, peace and quiet and a bit of TLC before you go to bed is a far healthier way to attempt quality sleep than relying on an alcohol-induced coma after hitting the hotel bar.

AMATRRA SPA AT THE ASHOK DELHI For some authentic Ayurveda remedies, try the Amatrra Spa at the Ashok Hotel. The Delhi-based facility is a 20,000-squarefoot space of wellbeing that includes a Kerala Ayurvedic treatment room plus steam, sauna and Jacuzzi – all good for starting the de-lagging work. Best in show for long-haulers is their Globe Trotter treatment, an hour’s work on your neck, shoulders and back (the parts of the body that hold the most tension and are most affected by being scrunched up in an airline seat). Alternatively if you’re suffering from insomnia you could choose the classic

sleep therapy, Shiro-Dhara, where relaxing oil is poured onto the third eye for an hour. n Globe Trotter, 60 minutes, Rs4,400 ($66); Shiro-Dhara, 60 minutes, Rs5,500 ($82) Visit amatrraspa.com.

AVEDA LIFESTYLE SALON & SPA TOKYO Aveda Lifestyle is a one-stop shop for wellness, from getting your ‘do’ transformed, to testing the latest skincare products, eating the healthiest vegan food and, of course, addressing jet lag issues in the spa. Here, in their calming, earthy treatment rooms, the recommended jet lag treatment is the Stress-Fix Body Treatment. Ideal for boosting your energy and de-frazzling your mind, the therapists take no prisoners with their pressure point and deep tissue massage techniques, even throwing in some reflexology to really rebalance things. Tailor-made for whatever aches and pains you’ve got, you’ll walk out feeling looser, lighter and full of energy to explore the nearby Omotesando Dori neighborhood. n Stress Fix Body Treatment, 75 or 105 minutes, ¥ 14,000 / 20,000 ($138/$198) Visit aveda-flagship.com/english.

BODIA SPA PHNOM PENH Bodia Spa, just back from the riverfront near the National Museum in Phnom Penh (there are also two in Siam Reap), is a spacious sanctuary decorated in wood and rattan with splashes of dark red. It may sound like a bit of a geographical nonsequiter, but their version of a Balinese Massage includes lymphatic massage to detox, firm strokes to loosen muscles and a caring touch to uplift the mood – just what you need. Choose from five essential oils for an aromatic boost – ylang ylang banishes mental anxiety, tangerine boosts the immune and the circulation systems, lemongrass relieves pressure in the head and aids the nervous system, eucalyptus energizes and ginger warms muscles, helping reduce muscle pain. n Balinese Massage, 60/90 minutes, $34 / $44 US Visit bodia-spa.com.

DRAGONFLY RETREAT AT KERRY CENTRE BEIJING One of China’s longest-standing day spa chains, Dragonfly Retreats, has charming September 2016 n 41

n Well Being Clockwise from left: Bodia Spa, Phnom Penh, Spa Ceylon Boutique and Urban Spa, Colombo; Dragonfly Retreat at Kerry Centre, Beijing; Nirvana at Ocean Plaza, Macau; Santal Spa at West Lake, Hanoi

interiors and treatment rooms with low light, very conducive to slowing the pace down. Right in the middle of the CBD, the Kerry Centre Retreat is a study in earthy, neutral colors. Their Happy Landing package of Chinese Massage is highly recommended for jet lag. Based on the techniques of tui na (meaning push-pull), it helps to ease headaches, neck and back pain, and reduce stress. This is followed by 30 minutes of Oriental Foot Massage for balancing the body, and finally Foot Therapy to relieve any water retention based swelling. A trifecta of therapy. n Happy Landing Massage, 120 minutes, RMB458 ($69) Visit dragonfly.net.cn NIRVANA AT OCEAN PLAZA TAIPA, MACAU Macau’s homegrown day spa brand, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year, recently expanded its outlets to include the charming, four-treatment room day spa in Taipa (as well as one at the Grand Coloane Beach Resort). Following overwhelming positive feedback, owner Cristina’s tough love massage recipe of deep tissue and Swedish techniques was made into the spa’s signature Heavenly Nirvana Massage. Tell the therapist how 42 n September 2016

you feel and she will customize it to be as soothing or as therapeutic as you need. And if you’re concerned about the consequences of flight dehydration, their Aromatic Hydration Facial will fool your colleagues into thinking you’re feeling as fresh as a daisy. n Heavenly Nirvana Massage, 60/90/120 minutes, MOP450/550/660; ($56/$69/$83) Aromatic Hydration Facial, 90 minutes, MOP470 ($59) Visit nirvanaspamacau.com.

SANTAL SPA AT WEST LAKE HANOI Located near West Lake, an upscale area of restaurants, bars and shops, Santal overlooks a field of morning glory leading toward a temple, so head to their delightful rooftop to relax pre- or post-treatment and take advantage of the calming view.

Full of ambient daylight, the spa’s interior features pale marble, stone and fabrics to create a peaceful atmosphere. The minimally decorated treatment rooms are arranged around a central courtyard.

Linh, the spa owner, recommends Shiatsu for clocking in to the local time zone. A non-oil massage originating from Japan, it includes acupressure, using the thumbs, fingers and palms, on the body’s energy

lines (or meridians) to unblock and restore the body’s energy levels. n Shiatsu massage, 30/60/75/120 minutes, VND450,000/750,000/900,000, 1,200,000 ($21/$34/$41/$55) Visit santalgroup.com.

SPA CEYLON BOUTIQUE AND URBAN SPA COLOMBO, SRI LANKA A treasure trove of Ayurvedic inspired wellness products and pampering, Spa Ceylon in the Colombo Fort area has transformed the 400-year-old Dutch hospital into two floors of fragrant calm with low lighting and dark wood. It’s the perfect place to slow the pace down and prepare your body and mind for sleep. The Hot Sand Massage Ritual is the treatment that best addresses exhaustion by using compresses filled with herbs and warmed sand. Therapists knead the body with the blissfully hot compresses, helping to loosen any knots or joint pain, while also performing soothing massage strokes to help reduce stress. The ritual includes a relaxing herbal inhalation to enhance the calming effect. n Hot Sand Massage Ritual, 90 minutes, Rs6,000 ($44) Visit spaceylon.com. BT Visit businesstravelerusa.com

n Technology of Things

Hail the revolution Need a ride? How on-demand taxi apps are changing the way we travel

By Jenny Southan

44 n September 2016

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Technology of Things n

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September 2016 n 45

n Technology of Things

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ne of my favorite Uber drivers was Bernhard in Miami, a part-time actor.

“I do the voiceover for the McDonald’s ads in the South American market,” he told me, launching into sped-up Spanish before singing the jingle at the end.

In Munich, Gerald supplied me with free mineral water and WiFi. And then there was Bradley in New York, who, within minutes of me getting into his Toyota Camry, started telling me about the book he was working on: Disclaim and Disclose, an account of his high-profile fall from grace as a commodities trader.

First launched in San Francisco in 2010, on-demand taxi app Uber now operates in more than 400 cities globally. I have been using it since the London launch in 2012.

I remember it feeling extravagant, with drivers often providing chocolate, gum, iPads and phone chargers, and yet it was cheaper than regular black taxis.

It was no surprise, then, when the UK’s Department for Transport announced last year that the number of private hire

46 n September 2016

vehicles on the capital’s roads had risen by more than a quarter since 2013 – from 49,854 to 62,754. The number of black cabs, meanwhile, has remained steady, at around 22,000 since 2005.

Uber expects the number of London drivers it works with to surge from 15,000 in 2015 to 42,000 by the end of the year.

Worldwide, there are more than five million Uber trips per day.

Its rapid rise has been controversial, though, with competing taxi drivers up in arms. There have been violent demonstrations in Paris and Jakarta, marches in Rome and Sao Paulo, protests in Melbourne and Brussels, and strikes in London that saw Hackney Carriages clog the roads in a river of black.

Despite numerous ongoing court cases from drivers, taxi companies and governments in which existing legislation has been challenged (as a“logistical intermediary”the firm doesn’t own cars, and drivers are contractors rather than employees), the company was most recently valued at $62.5 billion. It’s no wonder, then, that other companies have

been following its lead – in China, Uber rival Didi Kuaidi just raised $1 billion in funding, based on a $20 billion valuation.

Even the drivers of conventional taxis have been banding together to release apps. Hailo was founded by three London cabbies and three Internet entrepreneurs in 2011. UK general manager Andy Jones says: “We challenge any other application to match the quantity and quality of supply we have available in London, with over 16,500 registered cabs in our fleet.”

Does this mean the end of flagging taxis on the street? Jones says: “The typical wait time for a Hailo cab is just three minutes in London, and that gives you certainty that a taxi is coming and knows where to find you, even if you don’t know where you are. But seeing the yellow light on in the street is part of the city’s landscape.

Our technology is rapidly evolving but we think customers will continue to want both options.”

How It Works Most of us have entered the age of the “e-hail”but if you still haven’t tried it,

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Technology of Things n

here’s how it works. After downloading an app and inputting your card details, you use geolocation to pinpoint where you are and find out the estimated wait time. Once your car is booked, you will see a photo of your driver, their name, ranking and license plate number – you also have the option of messaging or calling them. When your journey is complete, you leave a rating.

In general, transactions are cashless (in some countries, such as India, you can pay in cash, as the foreign transaction fee can be more than the fare). You will then be e-mailed a receipt with a map showing the way you went. If you have any problems – maybe your driver didn’t turn up or took an overly long route – you can lodge a complaint with Uber (and others) and

the company will quickly respond with a refund or discount on your next ride.

Safety remains a hot topic. Uber conducts background checks on its drivers, and rides are insured. Remo Gerber, taxi app Gett’s chief executive for the UK and Western Europe, says: “We have a lot of corporate clients and what matters to them is that their duty of care continues when their employees are using our services. This is why we are working only with licensed taxi drivers that are properly vetted and trained by the councils.”

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In reality, whatever kind of taxi you get into there is a small risk that you will be exposed to unsavory people – but this kind of technology provides added layers of security and built-in abilities for recourse.

With Uber, you can send someone your journey status so they can see your route, ETA and driver; the drivers’ contact details are stored in your account; and you don’t have to hang around on the street to find a taxi – you can order it from your office or restaurant. In India, there is also an SOS button that sends a message to the police.

At the same time, the tech is helping to keep drivers safe, too. In East London, Ali told me that when he was working as a minicab driver, he was held hostage at knifepoint, beaten and robbed. He said he felt safer with Uber because he knew who he was picking up and if anything happened he could go to the authorities with their details. Not carrying cash also eliminated the incentive for people to steal from him.

Good for Business For corporate travelers, apps such as Uber, Gett, Hailo and Addison Lee offer the added benefit of being able to create accounts linked to a corporate credit card, and filing expenses is made easier thanks to virtual billing.

“The Hailo app is used by over 90 percent of FTSE 100 companies,” Jones says.“Those with a Hailo for Business account also benefit from features such as online booking, expense and travel policy management. Information such as flight numbers can be added, making it easier for passengers and drivers to manage the complications and delays that are often linked to air travel. You can also collect Avios with every qualifying journey through partnerships with British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.”

Some are differentiating themselves from Uber’s on-demand model by providing the ability to forward-plan, or by adding extra services. Justin Peters, chief executive of Kabbee, says: “Unlike Uber, advance booking allows business travelers to book a journey up to three months ahead and a fixed fare guarantees the price, even in London traffic.”

Gett’s Gerber adds: “We have just launched a courier service through the app – and if you are in the right zone in London we will deliver you an ice-cold bottle of Veuve Clicquot and two glasses in ten minutes for £39.”I’ll drink to that.

September 2016 n 47

n Technology of Things

TEN APPS TO TRY UBER uber.com/business Uber’s extensive global network now covers everywhere from London and New York to Lima and New Delhi. Fares with UberX are 40 percent cheaper than a normal taxi, although beware of “surge” pricing that sees them go up during peak times. You can request more expensive UberXL (SUVs), Exec and Lux vehicles, as well as London black cabs (a recent addition). Business travelers can create an account attached to their corporate credit card (company policies can also be integrated). Receipts with journey maps, driver details, times and prices are e-mailed to all customers.

GETT gett.com Gett operates in 57 cities in the US, the UK, Israel and Russia. It differs from Uber in that it only books licensed cabs (black taxis in London), which you can request in advance. Gett for Business has more than 4,000 clients. Fares are metered, with fixed prices available on prebooked journeys over 10km.

HAILO hailoapp.com Founded five years ago by three London black taxi drivers, Hailo can now be used in more than 20 cities, including Madrid, Singapore and Tokyo. It links 800,000 registered users with more than 16,600 drivers in London. Hailo for Business syncs with corporate cards and offers real-time accounting and pre-booking hours or days ahead. In July, Hailo announced it is selling a majority stake to Daimler and was merging with rival MyTaxi, another on-demand ridesharing company that was acquired

by Daimler subsidiary Moovel in 2014.

Hailo gets rebranded as MyTaxi, and the combination forms one of Europe’s biggest car-hailing services, the better to compete with Uber’s expanding presence there.

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KABBEE kabbee.com This app provides access to 10,000 drivers from more than 70 London minicab companies, with average prices up to 65 percent cheaper than black taxis. You can book rides from within five minutes to three months out, and pay by account, card or cash. Airport transfers have fixed rates.

Kabbee says it will soon offer rides in the capital’s Hackney carriages, and will be rolling out across other cities in the UK. Kabbee Treats is the reward scheme that offers points on rides that can be used for upgrades, as well as free food, drink and hotel stays with partner companies.

ADDISON LEE addisonlee.com In operation since 1975, this private hire company has moved with the times by launching an app for real-time pick-ups. Addison Lee’s 4,800 central London cars all come with free WiFi and phone chargers, and are available in four types including eco-friendly hybrids and Mercedes E Class. There is no surge pricing. Airport trips can be booked in advance with the “pick me up later” function. You can also pay with cash and set up a business account. Loyal users can sign up to ClubLee for points and rewards.

CABFIND cabfind.com Put travel management in the driving seat. Cabfind offers a seamless end-to-end experience in journey bookings, providing a taxi anywhere in the UK while streamlining travel expense management. Designed for business people, taxi management company Cabfind connects users with a network of 120,000 drivers across the UK. It is best suited for those with a corporate account, but there is also a “book now” option if you want to input your credit card details. You can preprogram regular journeys, add “via” addresses for any route and choose your preferred vehicle.

LYFT lyft.com This US-based “ridesharing” company provides a slightly different model, whereby you can request a lift from people in their own cars. (Extensive background checks are made to ensure safety.) Available in dozens of locations – from Chicago to Las Vegas – drivers can make up to $35 an hour, while passengers pay less than the alternatives. Prime Time surge pricing applies. Lyft for Work partners with Concur on expensing.

EASY TAXI easytaxi.com Launched in 2012, this Brazilian company has cornered the Latin America market, with 20 million users and 420 global cities covered (from Rio to Bangkok, but none in Europe). It offers similar features and functions to Uber. Easy Taxi Corporate is used by more than 3,000 business clients.

CURB gocurb.com Curb, the app formerly known as Taxi Magic, allows users to hail and pay for a metered taxi ride, as well as book a yellow cab in advance.

Available in 65 US cities, Curb connects users with 90 cab companies, providing 35,000 cars driven by professional taxi or for-hire drivers. Payment is generally via the app but in some places cash is accepted. The company was taken over last autumn by electronic payments systems provider Verifone.

GRAB grab.com This Southeast Asia app can be used in cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Manila and has 200,000 drivers. All rides are legal and insured, and passengers can pay through the app or with cash. There is the option of “standard” and “limo” taxis. BT

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n Escape To

Slow Mo in Tahiti

Tales of these idyllic South Pacific isles far exceed their picture-postcard expectations

SHUTTERSTOCK

By Lark Gould

50 n September 2016

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Escape To n

B

usy business travelers looking for solace and solitude from the road may want to seek some“Mana”instead.

This is the Tahitian word for the life force or spirit that connects all living things – and if that means connecting to warm clear waters in stunning shallow shoals, slow drink in hand while walking on soft sugar sands, then Mana it will be. And Tahiti has plenty of it.

Tahiti and her islands, all 118 of them scattered along the two million square miles in the Pacific that is French Polynesia, overflow with Mana infused in the scent of tiare flower and blue-hued horizons. In Tahiti, it’s impossible to give beauty a rest.

Even the ramshackle to riches capital of Papeete remains mesmerizing, whether gaping at cargo ships in the harbor or waterfalls streaming out of sudden and precipitous jungle cliffs.

Here beauty teams in the gaps between perception and sensation.

Tourism in Tahiti concentrates on three primary islands – Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora. Each keeps its own character, personality and reason for choosing.

True escape artists can head to The Brando. On its own island of eco-luxury in the Tetiaroa Atoll, it takes a spectacular 20-minute flight on Air Tetiaroa from Faa’a International Airport to get there.

Once away from it all you can spend a good week communing with sea turtles and getting pampered, immersed in what was once a private residence for one of old Hollywood’s most golden icons.

But most Tahiti vacations start with an overnight in Papeete before taking the half-hour ferry to Moorea. A few days later, it’s a

flight to Bora Bora before flying back to explore Papeete for a night with departures the next day.

Popular in Papeete Papeete anchors the island of Tahiti and all of French Polynesia as the hub of industry, government and, yes, dining, shopping and culture. It has it all – from sailor bars and shantytowns to exquisite boutiques for black pearls.

The city itself runs about seven blocks squared along the harbor with plenty of French colonial charm to spare. A central market offers a cavernous space for fresh fruits and vegetables, raw,“catch of the day”fish, local meats, shelves of delicious noni juice, and other potions and notions.

Best to find a sidewalk bistro facing the water and order up some Poisson Cru, or“Ia Ota,”(basically raw fish marinated with lime juice and soaked in coconut milk). Or better yet, head to the roulottes around dinnertime. A fleet of food trucks – Tahiti’s answer to street food along the waterfront – offers a variety of inexpensive options, from crepes to steak frites to island-inspired fruits de mer, with plenty of picnic tables linking the waterfront.

Should art be of interest, activities on the island can wax cultural.

The Paul Gauguin Museum near the Botanical Gardens offers an intriguing collection of documents, photos, reproductions, sculptures, engravings and sketches for a rare peek into the artist’s personal life.

Then, there is the Pearl Museum for everything you ever wanted to know about pearls – and Tahiti’s lava-laced black pearls.

Opposite page: Tropical island in French Polynesia This page: Polynesian women perform traditional dance in Papeete

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September 2016 n 51

n Escape To

Jungle safaris into the interior here are also rich with tales. Best bets for an efficient and entertaining overview of Papeete and its people is a half- or full-day 4x4 safari with Tahiti Discovery. Your guide may take you on the local’s tour – where to find the best donuts as well as encounters with mysterious plants, hidden paths leading to secret ancient villages, mountain waterfalls pouring into jungle ponds, incredible overlooks, and the all the legendary stories that go with these spots.

Stay the night at Manava Suite Resort, with its apartment-style guest rooms and heavenly views of Moorea. Rates are reasonable for this part of the world, running around $300 per night. A fullservice property with pool, bar and fine and casual dining, the Manava is a great place to hub and return to should visitors want to sample several of Tahiti’s islands.

Those with IHG rewards points to burn should book an overwater bungalow at the InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa in Papeete. A good spot for business and board meetings as well, this property is one of the original resorts in Tahiti, formerly the Tahiti Beachcomber. It’s celebrating what marks 50 years of the overwater 52 n September 2016

bungalow in Tahiti, where the concept originated. The location, just over a mile from the international airport, makes it a favorite for night flight arrivals heading onward in the morning.

Mooring in Moorea Moorea beckons across the waters with verdant skyward outcroppings that invoke the magic of Bali Hai. Frequent ferry service bridges the 10 nautical miles from Papeete and, unlike other destination isles in this vacation chain, Moorea offers more than just snorkeling, diving and lounging.

Hikes here are spectacular, or you can circle the island by bus or jeep. In any case you will no doubt scope the panorama from the Belvedere Lookout at 3,960 feet. From here it is easy to imagine such personalities as Charles Darwin and Capt. James Cook exploring the thick jungles of hidden villages and stone temples, and then conjure exciting film clips in your head of the classic 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty filmed in Cook’s Bay, with Marlon Brando leading the charge in this true historical event which took place in 1759.

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Clockwise from left: InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa, Overwater Villas, St Regis Bora Bora, Brown Noddy on Bird Island, colorful coral reef, boat in Cooks Bay

Other Moorea “to-dos:”Shark watching, stingray feeding, dolphin swimming, waterfall hiking and plenty of swimming and snorkeling in quiet lagoons.

If you can only pick one island to visit, Moorea should be it.

Situated just northwest of Tahiti in the Society Island group of French Polynesia, it is near enough to Papeete and complete in itself. At just the right size, it’s an explorable island with local restaurants, local villages, and local culture making it easy to have a variety of experiences for time spent.

There is choice when it comes to resorts in Moorea: Hilton has one here, as do InterContinental, Sofitel and Pearl Resorts. Also find an ample selection of charming local hotels and B&Bs. Most of the larger resorts have overwater bungalows available.

Upping the Bar in Bora Bora If your next stop is Bora Bora, prepare to have the bar raised. The 45-minute flight from both Papeete and Moorea makes Bora Bora a bit more remote, and getting to your hotel will likely require a 10or 15-minute speedboat ride from the air strip.

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Tahiti’s top resort picks can be found amid these islets and beaches. Perhaps most famous would be St. Regis Bora Bora, which took headlines in 2006 when Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban made the Royal Suite their honeymoon lair. The resort is large and stunning, with views of Mt. Otemanu and what are billed as the largest rooms in French Polynesia. Starwood Preferred points make a stay here all the sweeter, but will require suite bookings.

Four Seasons Bora Bora has an ample share of overwater bungalows as well, mostly with large decks from which to leap right into the lagoon. Several suites come with their own pools, and guests will pay well over $1000 a night for a standard guest room here without benefit of loyalty points. But the views of the famed profile of Bora Bora, the quiet lagoons, the spa, and the dining all measure up as a good choice for those who want to luxuriously hole up in Tahiti.

A more purse-friendly option would be the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort. Overwater bungalows reach far over the shallow waters for easy swimming off the terrace and a Zen-style spa takes out all the kinks and worries between dips. White sand beaches, pool bars, fine and fun dining do the rest.

On site is a special coral reef project that is experimenting with creating state of the art re-growth to save the seas. Tours from the docks can be arranged for any type of snorkeling, diving, ray chasing or reef-viewing adventure. Nightly stays run around $600, not including meals.

The Beaches Beyond Or you can head to the far reaches of these islands and take some true time out amid the pink sand Palliser Islands on the coral atoll of Tikehau. The Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort is a 55-minute flight from Papeete. Find only 24 suites and overwater bungalows there and not much else. All is quiet and slow. There is WiFi, such as it is, but it may be more interesting to listen to fish leaping out of the lagoon in the moon light or to go snorkeling in the shallows amid angels and puffers.

Visit Bird Island, a boat ride just across the waters, to see how rare boobies, noddies and terns nest; have a picnic and a swim on a neighboring island; ride a bicycle around the footpaths of the central isle that features a village – only 400 local inhabitants reside here. Quiet and decompression mark the days. Nightly rates hover around $600, not including meals and taxes.

Paradise At a Price Tahiti delivers when it comes to warm, clear waters and soft Trade Wind fantasies. And it is just beyond Hawaii in distance, around eight hours from the US West Coast.

However, Tahiti is expensive. French in nationality, the food and wine culture can be outstanding here – but not inexpensive. Tahiti grows little of her own food stuff and imports almost everything that hits the tables or the markets. If these items do not come from France, they likely come from the US, New Zealand or Australia.

Still, time away in a perfected South Pacific paradise can be priceless, as Gauguin and Brando discovered.

Accessible information and resources for traveling through French Polynesia can be found at Tahiti-Tourisme.com. BT September 2016 n 53

n The Scene

What’s On

Around The World

Bali International Film Festival

We round up some of the top events in the months ahead from all over Nuit Blanche

Bali, Indonesia September 24 – 30 The 10th anniversary edition of this international film festival – also known as Balinale – carries the theme ‘No Boundaries.’ It highlights Bali’s film industry and destinations, with independent filmmakers from around the world screening their works.

Visit balinale.com.

Toronto October 1 From sunset to sunrise, this one-night contemporary art event transforms Toronto’s streets and parks into an artistic playground. More than a million residents and out of town visitors turn out for exhibitions, live performances and creative programs.

Visit nbto.com.

Monterey Jazz Festival

Luminata

Monterey, CA September 16 - 18 This classic festival started in 1958 and has hosted many jazz greats through the decades.

Over 500 artists will perform on eight stages so you’ll have to put a plan in place before you arrive to make the most of your threeday weekend.

Visit montereyjazzfestival.org.

Royal Palace of Brussels Brussels September 1 – 11 Before King Philippe and Queen Mathilde return from holiday, the Royal Palace opens its doors to the people of Belgium and the world to enjoy the art and architecture of this grand palace, which was completed in 1865.

Visit belgium-tourism.be.

Meskel Festival Addis Ababa September 26 – 27 This two-day Ethiopian Orthodox celebration coincides with the blooming of Meskel daisies.

On the first day, the Demera, bonfires are lit accompanied by dancing and singing. The next day is Meskel, celebrated with plenty of food and drink.

Visit allafrica.com.

54 n September 2016

Seattle September 19 Seattle’s Fremont Arts Council celebrates the autumnal equinox with the Luminata, a lantern parade around Green Lake Park.

Parade goers gather at dusk and with drums, instruments, blinky lighted costumes, stilts and comfortable walking shoes!

Visit fremontartscouncil.org.

Höfte Ballooning Diepenheim , the Netherlands September 16 Enjoy the spectacle hot air balloons gliding over the stately Castle Warmelo. Flights start at 3 PM with night ballooning at 10 PM accompanied by a light show. Paramotors, model balloons, model airplanes and live music are also on hand.

Visit hofteballooning.nl.

Singapore International Festival of Arts August 11 – September 17 First launched in 1977, SIFA’s theme for 2016 is ‘Potentialities.’

From street performances to public film screenings across multiple venues throughout the country, the festival aims to inspire diverse audiences through artistic experiences from Singapore and the world.Visit yoursingapore.com. BT

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n 4 Hours

1

SINGAPORE

The Lion City’s show-stopping indoor and outdoor attractions make for a fascinating whistle-stop tour

By Sarah Reid

SHUTTERSTOCK

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MARINA BAY SANDS Just coming off the celebration of 50 years of independence in 2015, Singapore is looking more impressive than ever. With its three soaring towers straddled by a giant ship, architect Moshe Safdie’s Marina Bay Sands hotel has redefined the city skyline.

Sadly, only hotel residents can use the dazzling rooftop infinity pool, but there are plenty of other reasons to swing by, even if you haven’t booked a room.

Exquisite views can be had from the Skypark observation deck and Ku De Ta lounge 57 stories up, while the lobby features several fantastic art pieces, such as Sol Le Witt’s delightfully colorful Wall Drawing #917,“Arcs and Circles,”mounted behind reception in Tower One. The adjoining Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands – not to mention the casino – beg a longer visit. marinabaysands.com 56 n September 2016

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GARDENS BY THE BAY Singapore has always prided itself on its green spaces, from its Botanic Gardens to the interconnected walkways linking the Southern Ridges. But never have they been as accessible – or as spectacular – as Gardens by the Bay. The Skypark at Marina Bay Sands looks down on this otherworldly eco-park, which opened next door to it in 2012, but it’s far more impressive at ground level.

It’s free to wander around the exotic vertical gardens of the Supertree Grove in Bay South (open 5:00 AM – 2:00 AM daily), but if you have 15 minutes to spare in the evening, plan your visit around one of the twice-nightly sound-and-light shows. gardensbythebay.com.sg

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CLUB STREET Home to the fascinating Chinese Heritage Centre, the serene Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Maxwell Road Hawker Centre, one of the city’s best, it’s easy to while away four hours in Chinatown alone, located at Bayfront station, three stops from Gardens by the Bay on the MRT. Take a stroll down Club Street, which is seeing a revival as Singapore’s hottest drinking and dining enclave. By day, brightly colored shophouses provide a Visit businesstravelerusa.com

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charming backdrop for a casual lunch at Oxwell and Co (oxwellandco.com) or Club Street Social (clubstreetsocial.com).

Pedestrianized at night, Club Street and adjoining Ann Siang Road are great for people-watching, as barflies clamor for cocktails at “secret”watering holes such as Operation Dagger (7 Ann Siang Hill).

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TIONG BAHRU Everything old is new again in Singapore – including its oldest council estate. Built in the 1930s, this constellation of low-rise art deco flats, a short amble from Chinatown, started out as one of the island’s most exclusive addresses.

But when sky-scraping condominiums began to shoot up in the 1970s, Tiong Bahru lost its A-list appeal – until around 2010, when 40 Hands Coffee (40handscoffee.com) opened on Yong Siak Street, and stimulated the neighborhood.

One of the first of a new wave of cafés to open in the city-state, 40 Hands lured local hipsters back to the playground of their youth. There are now more than a

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GILLMAN BARRACKS A five-minute taxi ride from Tiong will take you to Gillman Barracks (gillmanbarracks.com), one the city’s major art spaces housing 17 galleries. Formerly a colonial army camp, it was transformed into a contemporary arts cluster in 2012 and is celebrating its fourth anniversary this month.

Showcasing temporary exhibitions by local and international artists – from Malaysian-born Heman Chong to Japan’s Yayoi Kusama – many of the showrooms are free to visit, so you can take your pick.

With more than a half dozen food and drink establishments, visit the Naked Finn (nakedfinn.com) for a great lobster roll – so you can enjoy one last meal in Singapore before heading to the airport. BT

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dozen (try Tiong Bahru Bakery on Eng Hoon Street) nestled alongside traditional kopitiams (coffee shops) on Tiong’s tiny streets, along with a handful of trendy boutiques.

It’s a great spot to enjoy a lazy latte away from the city bustle.

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Visit businesstravelerusa.com

September 2016 n 57

n World Wise

Staying Different

Today’s travelers expect more from the experience so hotels are ramping up for tomorrow

By Ramsey Qubein

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omorrow’s travelers are being courted today by hotels that want to grow loyalty and interaction with guests.

Much research and intensive study have gone into what the hotel of the future will look like. Some hotels are removing desks (Millennials supposedly use laptops on the bed or sofa) and storage space (it’s easier to live out of the suitcase). But, is that enough?

According to Concur’s 2016 State of Business Travel Report, not all business travelers are created equal. With the advent of home sharing through AirBnB or HomeAway (data shows a 56-percent growth between the first quarters of 2015 and 2016), hotels cannot risk losing market share.

The US Census bureau estimates that Millennials will outgrow baby boomers as the nation’s largest generation. Hoteliers are catching onto the Millennial spirit by diversifying their offerings to an ever more segmented customer base.

When Starwood’s SPG Keyless program launched in 2014, it was groundbreaking. The latest update allows rooms with multiple guests to each use their own smartphone to unlock the door. Other brands followed suit, but SPG Keyless remains the largest with more than 160 properties in over 30 countries, and more being added with the upcoming rollout of Keyless 2.0.

Originally offered at the more youthful W, Aloft and Element brands, it is now being rolled out to other Starwood brands including Le Meridien, Sheraton and Westin proving that some Millennial trends are ideas that can successfully cross over to more mature consumer segments.

“Rather than the first interaction being the swipe of a credit card, hotel associates can now focus on ways to better personalize guests’ stays,” says Alyssa Waxenberg, vice president of mobile for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Hotels are getting personal with music, art and wellness experiences. Last year, Hilton launched Hilton at PLAY in partnership with Live Nation to provide more“enriching and playful experiences” for guests. Hotels transition to concert spaces with live music events. Hilton HHonors members can even use points for special backstage tours and sound checks with some of their favorite musicians.

58 n September 2016

From the left: W Bali World events can change Seminyak sound studio, – lobby GLo landscape – and the heart Hotel, Hilton @PLAY concert, Apple of a city forever watches with SPG keyless program

By Elizabeth Atkinson Marriott’s Renaissance brand is going through its own renaissance with trendy interior redesigns and a new concert series with Billboard to promote emerging music artists at various hotels and streamed live on AXS TV. Music lovers will discover something unique at the W Bali Seminyak and W Seattle where a Sound Studio, designed in part by producer and DJ White Shadow of Lady Gaga fame, gives guests the opportunity for impromptu jam or recording sessions. Amateur musicians and experienced pop stars can reserve the soundproof music studio, a joint partnership with Coca-Cola, and writing space to get creative during their stay. Hotels are no longer just places to sleep or meet; artists can actually create content for the world.

Swissotel’s Vitality program, available at properties in Berlin, Chicago and Sydney among others, provides guests with“physical and mental vitality boosts.”Guests receive TOMS bags stuffed with jogging maps, SWELL water bottles that keep drinks cold for 24 hours, in-room exercise equipment, access to calming and inspiring podcasts, and unique postcards with colored pencils (hotels will mail them for free).

Artists and glitterati are important, but what about the rest of us? Hilton’s Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites are targeting men, the majority of their current guests, with a program that promotes how to be better travel planners. Since fathers are becoming increasingly involved in planning family travel, the “Travel MANager Program”and MenCanPlanTravel.com website help by sharing tips on saving money and finding unique packages.

Man’s Best Friend, too, receives special attention from some hotel brands; Pier One Sydney Harbour, Autograph Collection, offers a dog minibar with goodies like beef jerky or tendon treats.

Even Best Western, traditionally appealing to Baby Boomers looking to save a buck, is turning its attention to Millennials with a new brand called GLo, offering value-focused rooms with contemporary style. Research shows that younger travelers book travel with less planning giving value brands an upper hand.

As hotel companies reposition for tomorrow’s traveler, they are still jockeying for today’s business while being careful not to alienate one consumer segment in favor of another. The good news is that when hotels get creative, we all win. BT Visit businesstravelerusa.com